> > > Hi! > > What's the exact purpose of the .tar.gz source packages and the diff? I'm > asking because I want to create a package for the metapost system, that's > like metafont but produces postscript output. The currently available > distribution is a patch against the latest webc, 6.3 I think, which is a > tar.gz (>5MB I think). But the webc distrib contains everything that's > needed for a whole TeX/MF systems--much more than I need here.
The .tar.gz needs to be provided because one needs sources, otherwise one can't build anything at all. > Is it possible that I reduce the source so that everyone can recompile the > package (and add a short description of my changes) plus a diff that adds > debian specific files? You can modify the source if you want but I don't recommend it. Note that with the current new source packaging system (described in policy and programmers documents which come with dpkg / dpkg-deb) you have to upload the orig source only once. Add a few things for debianinazation and these will automagically go in the diff, the binary should be build as described in the manuals. Take a few hours to read them, then check the hello package and sources, you might check another package as well and use these as starters for your metapost package. Erick>