A Free Software tool used by 64 Studio Ltd. to backport bleeding edge packages for stable GNU/Linux distributions.
Backporter is a job scheduler for rebuildd. It monitors a configurable set of APT source URIs, typically referring to bleeding edge suites like Debian sid, and checks for newer versions of the packages one wants to backport. If newer versions are found it tries to built them against other suites (typically released ones, like Debian stable).
You can browse the source code at https://github.com/64studio/backporter
Documentation
backporter help topic
List available commands, where topic is one of:
list
add
remove
set
source
status
update
schedule
backporter list [-d dist]
Show current backports for distribution dist
backporter add [-d dist] pkg
Add a backport of package pkg for distribution dist
backporter remove [-d dist] pkg
Remove a backport of package pkg from distribution dist
backporter set [-d dist] pkg policy Never|Once|Always|Smart
Set backport policy options on package pkg for distribution dist
backporter set [-d dist] pkg origin 64studio|sid|karmic|medibuntu
Set backport upstream origin (from known parent distros) on package pkg for distribution dist
backporter source -d dist pkg=version [-- apt-get options]
Download and repack a source package pkg for distribution dist
backporter status [-d dist]
Show backport job status
backporter update
Update package versions from APT sources in /etc/backporter.conf
backporter schedule
Schedule new backport jobs