rules_dpkg is a fork of the deb_packages directory from rules_pkg. It was split from the original project to make it easier to depend on these rules and to allow for continued evolution. Read more on the backstory.

deb_packages is a repository rule, and therefore made to be used in the WORKSPACE.

First, tell bazel to load the rule with a load() statement.

load("//deb_packages:deb_packages.bzl", "deb_packages")

Next, create a http_file rule that points to a PGP armored public key. It is highly recommended to also specify the sha256 hash of the key file to make sure it is untampered. This key must be the one that signed the Release file for the distribution that you'll specify in the next step.

This is necessary because the update_deb_packages helper tool verifies files according to https://wiki.debian.org/SecureApt

Here is for example a list of keys for Debian: https://ftp-master.debian.org/keys.html (note the https - it is important that you are sure the fingerprints are directly from the Debian project)

To verify that a key you downloaded has the correct fingerprint, you can download it locally and run gpg --with-fingerprint keyfile.asc. If no fingerprint is displayed, try again with gpg2 instead of gpg. The fingerprint of the downloaded key must exactly match the fingerprint you obtained via a trusted channel.

After verifying, you can run sha256sum keyfile.asc to get a hash that ensures that you'll receive the same file from now on.

# Look on https://ftp-master.debian.org/keys.html for the key and its fingerprint you want to use
# Also verify the fingerprint is correct via a different source (mailing lists, other web sites, colleagues, different internet connections...)

wget -q https://ftp-master.debian.org/keys/archive-key-8.asc

gpg2 --with-fingerprint archive-key-8.asc
pub  rsa4096/2B90D010 2014-11-21 [expires: 2022-11-19]
      Key fingerprint = 126C 0D24 BD8A 2942 CC7D  F8AC 7638 D044 2B90 D010
uid                   Debian Archive Automatic Signing Key (8/jessie) <[email protected]>

# Manually verify that this is the correct fingerprint that you obtained before

sha256sum archive-key-8.asc
e42141a829b9fde8392ea2c0e329321bb29e5c0453b0b48e33c9f88bdc4873c5  archive-key-8.asc

Now enter this information in your http_file rule:

http_file(
    name = "jessie_archive_key",
    sha256 = "e42141a829b9fde8392ea2c0e329321bb29e5c0453b0b48e33c9f88bdc4873c5",
    urls = ["https://ftp-master.debian.org/keys/archive-key-8.asc"],
)

You can of course also use the key your organization uses internally to sign their Debian style repositories instead of the ones used by the Debian project.

Another good practice is to mirror this file, maybe at a location you control in case you are worried that the Debian project might not always be able to deliver this file to you.

Also take note of the urls syntax instead of the deprecated single url

Next, for every source of deb packages, create a deb_packages rule. You can define additional mirrors per package source, but it is assumed that all these mirrors will serve the exact same files. Hashes are checked after downloading files.

deb_packages(
    name = "debian_jessie_amd64",
    arch = "amd64",
    distro = "jessie",
    distro_type = "debian",
    mirrors = [
        "http://deb.debian.org/debian",
        "http://my.private.mirror/debian",
    ],
    packages = {
        "libpython2.7-minimal": "pool/main/p/python2.7/libpython2.7-minimal_2.7.9-2+deb8u1_amd64.deb",
        "libpython2.7-stdlib": "pool/main/p/python2.7/libpython2.7-stdlib_2.7.9-2+deb8u1_amd64.deb",
        "python2.7-minimal": "pool/main/p/python2.7/python2.7-minimal_2.7.9-2+deb8u1_amd64.deb",
        "zlib1g": "pool/main/z/zlib/zlib1g_1.2.8.dfsg-2+b1_amd64.deb",
    },
    packages_sha256 = {
        "libpython2.7-minimal": "916e2c541aa954239cb8da45d1d7e4ecec232b24d3af8982e76bf43d3e1758f3",
        "libpython2.7-stdlib": "cf1c9dfc12d6cfd42bb14bfb46ee3cec0f6ebc720a1419f017396739953b12c5",
        "python2.7-minimal": "c89199f908d5a508d8d404efc0e1aef3d9db59ea23bd4532df9e59941643fcfb",
        "zlib1g": "b75102f61ace79c14ea6f06fdd9509825ee2af694c6aa503253df4e6659d6772",
    },
    pgp_key = "jessie_archive_key",
)

Internally .deb files referenced here will be downloaded by Bazel, renamed to their SHA256 hash (not all characters used in file names are legal in bazel names) and made available in a dictionary named the same as the deb_packages rule. This dictionary is made available in a file named deb_packages.bzl in the debs subfolder of this rule. You can find the generated and downloaded files in the ./bazel-distroless/external/your_rule_name/debs folder after building the project if you're interested.

To actually use the .deb files in a BUILD file rule like docker_build, you first have to load all dictionaries of package sources you want to use. This is done with the load("@your_rule_name//debs:deb_packages.bzl", "your_rule_name") line. Then you can use the dictionary named the same as the deb_packages rule to refer to the packages you defined in the WORKSPACE file.

load("@debian_jessie_amd64//debs:deb_packages.bzl", "debian_jessie_amd64")

docker_build(
    name = "python27",
    base = "//base:base",
    debs = [
        debian_jessie_amd64["libpython2.7-minimal"],
        debian_jessie_amd64["libpython2.7-stdlib"],
        debian_jessie_amd64["python2.7-minimal"],
        debian_jessie_amd64["zlib1g"],
        ],
    entrypoint = [
        "/usr/bin/python2.7",
    ],
    symlinks = {
        "/usr/bin/python": "/usr/bin/python2.7",
    },
)

Chosse a Debian mirror that you want to use, for example http://deb.debian.org/debian.

Visit the /dists/ directory on that mirror and choose the distro you want to use, for example jessie.

Download the Release and Release.gpg files in the distro's folder (in our example: http://deb.debian.org/debian/dists/jessie/Release and http://deb.debian.org/debian/dists/jessie/Release.gpg).

Verify the file's signature: gpg --verify Release.gpg Release It must be signed with a vald signature by one of the keys on this site: https://ftp-master.debian.org/keys.html

Also create a http_file rule that references this key and make sure to include a SHA256 hash, so it won't change later:

http_file(
    name = "jessie_archive_key",
    sha256 = "e42141a829b9fde8392ea2c0e329321bb29e5c0453b0b48e33c9f88bdc4873c5",
    urls = ["https://ftp-master.debian.org/keys/archive-key-8.asc"],
)

This file contains the paths to various other files and their hashes. Scroll down to the SHA256 section and choose the path to the Packages file that you want to use (for example main/binary-amd64/Packages.xz) and also note down its hash.

Append the Packages file path to your mirror URL + /dists/yourdistro (for example http://deb.debian.org/debian/dists/jessie/main/binary-amd64/Packages.xz) and download the resulting file.

Verify the hash of the file you received (with the exception of the GPG keys site, all these downloads happen on insecure channels by design) with sha256sum: sha256sum Packages.xz

Unpack the archive (if you downloaded the Packages.gz or Packages.xz file) and now you'll have a huge text file that contains hashes and paths to all Debian packages in that repository.

Open this file and start looking for the package names you want to use in your BUILD files. You can do this for example in a text editor or using grep (the -A switch prints that many lines after each match): grep -A 25 "Package: python2.7-minimal" Packages

Now you finally have the info that you must enter in the deb_packages rule: The value at Filename is the path to the exact package to be used and the value at SHA256 is the verified hash that this file will have.

Now enter this information in the WORKSPACE file in a deb_packages rule:

deb_packages(
    name = "my_new_manual_source",
    arch = "amd64",
    distro = "jessie",
    distro_type = "debian",
    mirrors = [
        "http://deb.debian.org/debian",
        "http://my.private.mirror/debian",
    ],
    packages = {
        "libpython2.7-minimal": "pool/main/p/python2.7/libpython2.7-minimal_2.7.9-2+deb8u1_amd64.deb",
    },
    packages_sha256 = {
        "libpython2.7-minimal": "916e2c541aa954239cb8da45d1d7e4ecec232b24d3af8982e76bf43d3e1758f3",
    },
    pgp_key = "jessie_archive_key",
)

As you saw, most of the information is already available on mirrors anyways as soon as you know the distro, exact package name, architecture and version. If you enter the correct rule name for the pgp_key field, this also means that you can do this in a verified chain of trust.

The update_deb_packages tool can help you with this.

To use it, just create a deb_packages rule in your WORKSPACE file without any packages defined:

deb_packages(
    name = "my_new_automatic_source",
    arch = "amd64",
    distro = "jessie",
    distro_type = "debian",
    mirrors = [
        "http://deb.debian.org/debian",
        "http://my.private.mirror/debian",
    ],
    packages = {},
    packages_sha256 = {},
    pgp_key = "jessie_archive_key",
)

Now use this rule in your BUILD files, as if the packages were already defined:

load("@my_new_automatic_source//debs:deb_packages.bzl", "my_new_automatic_source")

docker_build(
    name = "python27",
    base = "//base:base",
    debs = [
        my_new_automatic_source["libpython2.7-minimal"],
        my_new_automatic_source["libpython2.7-stdlib"],
        my_new_automatic_source["python2.7-minimal"],
        my_new_automatic_source["zlib1g"],
        ],
    entrypoint = [
        "/usr/bin/python2.7",
    ],
    symlinks = {
        "/usr/bin/python": "/usr/bin/python2.7",
    },
)

Now run bazel run update_deb_packages (similar to the gazelle tool used by the golang Bazel rules) and the helper tool will fetch the relevant files from the mirror(s), parse BUILD files for docker_build rules and add the data for missing packages at the respective deb_packages rule. It uses the buildifier and buildozer tools from https://github.com/bazelbuild/buildtools, which need to be available on your $PATH.

It will also update any existing packages to either the most recent version available on the mirror or a version you specified in the package name (package=version). The string latest is also supported if you want to use version pinning.

deb_packages(name, arch, distro, distro_type, components, mirrors, packages, packages_sha256)

A rule that downloads .deb packages from a Debian style repository and makes them available in the WORKSPACE.

For a deb_packages rule named foo_bar, packages can be used by loading load("@foo_bar//debs:deb_packages.bzl", "foo_bar") into your BUILD file, then referencing the package with foo_bar['packagename'].

The packagename is expected to be the exact package name as available upstream, with an optional version string appended. This is not enforced by bazel or these rules, but makes automatic parsing and updating much easier. If you use the update_deb_packages helper, version pinning with packagename=version is supported.

Every key name in the packages section must exactly match a key name in the packages_sha256 section.