Re: Debianizing tarballs: a Big Deal or a routine skill?
Stan Kaufman wrote: Since this seems to be a widespread situation, I want to figure out how to do this process. I'd be happy to write up a mini-HOWTO. But before I start, I'd like to know what I'm running into. HI Stan, looks like were in the same situation. I'm looking into building .debs now but I don't know how. If you need some help on that HOW-TO please let me know. Again I have no experience here but it's about time to start. later, Andy _ Do You Yahoo!? Get your free @yahoo.com address at http://mail.yahoo.com
Re: Debianizing tarballs: a Big Deal or a routine skill?
Stan Kaufman wrote: Since this seems to be a widespread situation, I want to figure out how to do this process. I'd be happy to write up a mini-HOWTO. But before I start, I'd like to know what I'm running into. HI Stan, looks like were in the same situation. I'm looking into building .debs now but I don't know how. If you need some help on that HOW-TO please let me know. Again I have no experience here but it's about time to start. later, Andy Have you seen the existing docs? In particular, the maint-guide package? The packaging-manual and other stuff that is on www.debian.org/devel as well also come to mind. The debian-mentor mailing list is a very helpful src if you have any question about your pacakges. _ Do You Yahoo!? Get your free @yahoo.com address at http://mail.yahoo.com -- To UNSUBSCRIBE, email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with a subject of unsubscribe. Trouble? Contact [EMAIL PROTECTED] -- Shaul Karl [EMAIL PROTECTED] -- Shaul Karl [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Re: Debianizing tarballs: a Big Deal or a routine skill?
On Tue, 21 Nov 2000, Stan Kaufman wrote: There have been a number of threads lately about where to find info about how to create a .deb package from source. What I'd like to hear from people who do this regularly is how complex and involved this is. Now obviously the estimate will depend on one's skills, so please no flames. But here is what I think is a reasonable scale: compiling a new kernel is a routine skill that any Debian user should have (particularly with how easy the kernel-package and related tools make the process), whereas reading through the kernel's C source to figure out the answer to some configuration question is *not*. I would say it is more complicated than making a kernel package but in most cases not much more complicated -- especially if an older version of the application has already been debianized. The key skills to have are a good knowledge of shell scripting and Makefiles. Here's an example why this is important, IMHO. I'm using PostgreSQL, installed from the .deb at debian.org. I want to recompile it to configure the memory block size, plus use the latest version. The .deb maintainer will eventually do the latter task (and my hat is off to all the dedicated folks out there doing this!). But they won't necessarily configure things the way I need. This kind of thing is easy because you are keeping the structure of the official .deb just changing some of the configuration parameters. A similar example: pppoe. The .deb version is 1.0-1, but Roaring Penguin has a tarball of version 2.3. I'd like to upgrade. whether this is easy depends on whether Roaring Penguin has kept the same file structure and build system or not. If they have, you can probably take the Debian infrastructure as is and just up the version number. If not you will have more work on your hands. In both cases, it makes most sense to maintain a system the Debian way, not partly by hand. I want dselect to remain happy whenever it touches my system! So rather than just compile and install the tarballs, I'd like to debianize them first. This is very sensible and will save you a lot of time in the long run. If you are the type who is comfortable with building from source tarballs, I'm sure you won't find it too hard to progress to building .debs. Since this seems to be a widespread situation, I want to figure out how to do this process. I'd be happy to write up a mini-HOWTO. But before I start, I'd like to know what I'm running into. The New Maintainers Guide (package: maint-guide) already has a lot of this information and is comprehensive enough for simple packages. IMO you should work on enhancing that rather than starting a parallel effort. -- Jaldhar H. Vyas [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Re: Debianizing tarballs: a Big Deal or a routine skill?
There have been a number of threads lately about where to find info about how to create a .deb package from source. What I'd like to hear from people who do this regularly is how complex and involved this is. snip In both cases, it makes most sense to maintain a system the Debian way, not partly by hand. I want dselect to remain happy whenever it touches my system! So rather than just compile and install the tarballs, I'd like to debianize them first. Well, there already is any easy way to do this - apt-get source. This command downloads the Debianized source of a package. To use this command you probably want to do the following: 0. Make sure that you have apt-get and debhelper installed. 1. Add a deb-src line to your /etc/apt/sources.list - something like: deb-src http://http.us.debian.org/debian stable main contrib non-free 2. Apt-get update 3. Download the source - apt-get source package_name (add a -b if you want to build the source without making any changes). 4. Make changes to the source if you so desire. Take a look at debian directory of the source, as well as the Makefile and configure script. 5. Build the package (if you didn't put -b in step 3). dpkg-buildpackage -uc 6. Install the deb(s) that result. Its really a pretty easy process, if your used to compile packages. The list I gave above assumes that you have all of the libraries install that you need. Often you have to install a *-dev package or two when trying to build a package from source. This also assumes that you want to compile the same version of the source that the package maintainer has used. If you want to build a different version, you may be able to get away with copying the debian directory from the Debianized source into the non-Debian source that you've downloaded. Anyway, that's the basic idea. Take a look at the documentation for apt-get and debhelper for more details. -- Jim Crumley | [EMAIL PROTECTED] | Work: 612 624-6804 or -0378 |
Re: Debianizing tarballs: a Big Deal or a routine skill?
Stan Kaufman writes: I'm using PostgreSQL, installed from the .deb at debian.org. I want to recompile it to configure the memory block size, plus use the latest version. You don't need to create your own package for that. Just download and unpack the source package, make your changes, rebuild the package, and install it. That is no harder than compiling a kernel. The .deb version is 1.0-1, but Roaring Penguin has a tarball of version 2.3. I'd like to upgrade. Use alien. Since this seems to be a widespread situation, I want to figure out how to do this process. I'd be happy to write up a mini-HOWTO. Package: maint-guide Status: install ok installed Priority: optional Section: doc Installed-Size: 185 Maintainer: Josip Rodin [EMAIL PROTECTED] Version: 1.0 Suggests: doc-base Description: Debian New Maintainers' Guide This package contains the Debian New Maintainers' Guide. . This document will try to describe building of a Debian GNU/Linux package to the common Debian user (and wannabe developer) in common language, and well covered with working examples. . Contains following chapters: 1. Getting started The Right Way 2. First steps 3. Modifying the source 4. Required stuff under debian/ 5. Other files under debian/ 6. Final steps -- John Hasler [EMAIL PROTECTED] Dancing Horse Hill Elmwood, Wisconsin
