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I'm creating a deb-file and enumerating the files and paths I need to have in the package using the install file. It looks like

dir1/* path1
dir2/* path2
...

But in a result deb-file there are no hidden files from dir1 and dir2. It looks like * doesn't match hidden files.

How could I match them apart from specifying each one explicitly?

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I think "dir1/.* path1" would work but I'm unsure – porton Jan 28 at 20:18
@porton: In that case I will have only hidden files right under dir1 copied. This won't include not-hidden ones and hidden files from nested directories – zerkms Jan 28 at 20:19
@zerkms This is using dh_install? – jordanm Jan 28 at 20:24
@jordanm: yep.. – zerkms Jan 28 at 20:26
side note: it's unusual to package dotfiles. – jordanm Jan 28 at 20:33
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1 Answer

up vote 2 down vote accepted

The globs used by dh_install are perl globs, which are modeled after csh globs. These do not match hidden files by default. In order to get all files, including hidden files, you will need to use two globs. Here is an example:

dir1/.* path1
dir1/* path1

Update: It has been pointed out in comments to this answer that .* matches . and ... Since perl's globbing doesn't offer anything to avoid this situation, the dotfiles will need to be added explicitly. 

dir1/.htaccess path1
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It leads to cp: cannot copy a directory, ./public/.., into itself, error – zerkms Jan 28 at 21:01
2  
dir/.* is horrible as it includes . and ... Try dir/.??* – Dennis Kaarsemaker Jan 28 at 21:04
@Dennis Kaarsemaker: dir/.??* will not match say .a, but anyway, thanks for the help - I decided to specify that single file explicitly – zerkms Jan 28 at 21:06
@zerkms - I updated the answer based on these comments. – jordanm Jan 28 at 21:07
seriously? .a? What crackpot software is so braindead that it uses filenames this non-descriptive? – Dennis Kaarsemaker Jan 28 at 21:13

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