dh_install not finding files that clearly exist

Question

Running debuild -us -uc to build a package I'm working on, dh_install complains about missing files. Running it on it's own, it prints the same error messages:

$ dh_install
/home/felix/work/my_app/debian/install: 1: /home/felix/work/my_app/debian/install: execute.py: not found
/home/felix/work/my_app/debian/install: 2: /home/felix/work/my_app/debian/install: module1: not found

Though I'm in the correct directory, and the files are clearly there:

$ pwd
/home/felix/work/my_app
$ ll
total 56K
[...]
-rwxrwxr-x 1 felix felix  20K Dez  6 10:35 execute.py
[...]
drwxrwxr-x 4 felix felix 4,0K Dez  1 19:10 module1
[...]

And here's my debian/install:

execute.py usr/lib/my-cool-app
module1 usr/lib/my-cool-app

What am I doing wrong? This worked a day ago, and I changed nothing in this directory since then:

$ git status
On branch debian_package
nothing to commit, working directory clean

Additional info:

$ dpkg -s debhelper | grep Version
Version: 9.20131227ubuntu1
$ cat debian/compat
9

Answer 1

Possibly you are encountering this bug in dh-install, as I mentioned here Remove the executable bit in your .install file:

chmod -x debian/*.install

Answer 2

Your debian/install file is wrong. You should use:

execute.py usr/lib/my-cool-app
module1 usr/lib/my-cool-app

Note: usr/lib without a initial slash.

Such files should be put into the package "root" (AKA DESTDIR), to be ready to be packed, so you should use relative paths (relative to "DESTDIR"). Your file causes the build system to move the files into your system /usr, so such files are not found into the temporary location.

Answer 3

I struggled with the same issue in WSL. The real reason is that the dh_install is too smart for me ))

But I've found a workaround solution which mentioned in debian mail archive So the result could be:

debian/install

#!/bin/bash
echo execute.py usr/lib/my-cool-app
echo module1 usr/lib/my-cool-app