Several files contain instructions for packing a software for Debian. The all should be placed in debian/ subdirectory. If upstream sources already come with debian/ dir, they are said to be debianized or native. If there is no such dir, then it is added by diff (.diff.gz) or a separate archive (.debian.tar.gz).
The source code with debian/ dir should be compressed and pushed to Debian to build.
native debian package
- upstream source comes in
.orig.tar.gz
non-native debian package
- upstream source comes in
.tar.gz
explanation
For making a package out of some source Debian needs instructions. These instructions are placed into debian/ subdirectory. For native packages, upstream source (in .tar.gz) already includes the debian/ subdir. For non-native packages, upstream code (in .orig.tar.gz) is missing the debian/ dir. The debian/ dir for it is packed into .diff.gz file and supplied along.
https://man7.org/linux/man-pages/man1/dpkg-source.1.html#SOURCE_PACKAGE_FORMATS
- [-] doesn't provide public domain choice of license, generates a lot of files, needs cd into dir
- [+] generates upstream source archive from dir
debmake
- [-] needs explicit option to support
.orig.tar.xz
Both not allowed. Empty lines are for separating paragraphs, and there is only one paragraph in .dsc.
https://www.debian.org/doc/debian-policy/ch-controlfields.html#debian-source-control-files-dsc