.TH DH_CLEAN 1 "" "Debhelper Commands" "Debhelper Commands"
.SH NAME
dh_clean \- clean up package build directories
.SH SYNOPSIS
.B dh_clean
.I "[debhelper options] [-k] [-d] [file ...] [-Xitem]"
.SH "DESCRIPTION"
dh_clean is a debhelper program that is responsible for cleaning up after a
package is built. It removes the package build directories, and removes some
other files, such as debian/substvars, debian/files, and any detritus left
behind by other debhelper commands. It also removes common files that
should not appear in a debian diff:
  #*# *~ DEADJOE *.orig *.rej *.SUMS TAGS core .deps/* *.P
.SH OPTIONS
.TP
.B debhelper options
See
.BR debhelper (1)
for a list of options common to all debhelper commands.
.TP
.B \-k, \--keep
Do not delete debian/files. When do you want to use this? Anytime you have a
debian/rules that has 2 binary targets that build different .deb packages;
for example, one target is binary-arch, and the other is binary-indep, or
one target builds the shared library, and the other the -dev package. If you
didn't use -k in these cases, then debian/files would be deleted in the
middle, and your changes file will only contain the last binary package that
was built.
.TP
.B \-d, \--dirs-only
Only clean the package build directories, do not clean up any other files at
all.
.TP
.B \-Xitem, \--exclude=item
Exclude files that contain "item" anywhere in their filename from being
deleted, even if they would normally be deleted. You may use this option
multiple times to build up a list of things to exclude.
.TP
.B file ...
Delete these files too.
.SH ENVIRONMENT
See
.BR debhelper (1)
for a list of environment variables that affect all debhelper commands.
.SH "SEE ALSO"
.BR debhelper (1)
.SH AUTHOR
Joey Hess <joeyh@debian.org>