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Welcome to git-buildpackage (short gbp), a system that integrates the Debian package build system with Git. The most recent version of this manual can be found here.
This is what gbp can do for you:
Initially import an existing Debian™ package into Git™
Incrementally import new versions of a Debian package into Git™ e.g. for importing NMUs or to maintain downstream modifications
Import new upstream versions from tarballs with optionally filters applied
Recreate the upstream tarball from information stored in Git™
Maintain a consistent branch and tag naming within a Git™ repository, across repositories or across a team of developers
Automatically sign generated tags
Make sure you have committed all changes to the right branch before building and releasing
Execute hooks at various points of the package build process e.g. to automatically push changes to remote repositories
Integrate the build process with cowbuilder or other builders
Export to a clean build area before building the package
Generate debian/changelog automatically
Manage your quilt patches when using 3.0 (quilt) source format
All of this is (hopefully) being done without restricting the user to certain usage patterns.
It is recommended to have the Debian™ packaging on a separate branch than the upstream source [1]. This is necessary to be able to import and merge in new upstream versions via gbp import-orig. To distinguish these two branches, the following terminology [2] is used:
The debian-branch (the default branch
name used in the Git™ repository is master) holds
your current development work. That's the branch you usually cut your
releases from and the default branch new upstream releases are merged
onto.
The upstream-branch (the default
branch name used in the Git™ repository is
upstream) holds the upstream releases. This can
either be a branch you import to or a branch of an upstream Git™ repository
you pull from.
The pristine-tar branch (the default
branch name used in the Git™ repository is
pristine-tar) holds the necessary additional
information to recreate the original tarball from the
upstream-branch. In order to use this feature, you need
to install the pristine-tar™ package.
There can be one or more patch-queue branches.
Every patch-queue branch is related to a
debian-branch. If the debian-branch is called
master, the corresponding patch-queue branch is
called patch-queue/master. The patch-queue branch is
the Debian™ branch plus the contents of
debian/patches applied. These branches are managed
with gbp pq.
You're completely
free to pick any repository layout; the branch names above are only
gbp's defaults. They can be changed at any point in time,
and you can work with an arbitrary number of branches.
For example, branches like nmu,
backports or stable might
(temporarily or permanently) become your debian-branch,
and branches like dfsg or
snapshots might become your
upstream-branch—it doesn't matter if these branches
are maintained with gbp import-orig or not.
A recommended branch layout is described in the section called “Branch layout”.
Since gbp buildpackage only works with local Git™-repositories,
you have to use git push in order to publish your
changes to remote repositories like git.debian.org; this can be
automated with gbp buildpackage's post-tag
hook.