Re: debian/rules: Moving to debhelper or cdbs
* Ben Finney [Tue, 17 May 2005 12:00:38 +1000]:
> On 17-May-2005, Adeodato Simó wrote:
> > * Ben Finney [Tue, 17 May 2005 11:35:56 +1000]:
> > > I'd like to submit patches for a couple of packages that currently use
> > > hand-rolled debian/rules files.
> > Which packages, and why?
> I'd rather not say, since I don't want to imply they're poorly
> packaged. It's more that I'd like to practice for my own packages by
> helping someone else first, and getting their direct feedback.
Sure, my intention was only to point out that there's nothing
intrinsically wrong about hand-rolled debian/rules files, though
it's very difficult to get everything right so few people choose that
road (hi Manoj!).
> > Hah! Since that's a tricky question, I'll just say that to fix a
> > hand-rolled debian/rules, migrating to debhelper will probably be
> > easier and more obvious, just by substituting chunks of commands
> > with the appropriate dh_whatever invocation.
> That's exactly what I need help with. What should I do to decide
> "here's a bunch of hand-rolled stuff that has a direct or indirect
> debhelper replacement"?
debhelper(7) contains a list of all the available dh_foo programs, and
a short description of each. That should give you hints of what stuff
can be done with it. And also, very importantly, read examples under
/usr/share/doc/debhelper, since most packages will use a very similar
structure.
> More to the point, how do I debhelper-ise an existing package and know
> that I've made good use of debhelper, rather than leaving lots of
> manual stuff that I didn't know to replace?
You can take a look at already-using-debhelper packages that have to
solve similar problems to the ones in the package you're trying to
migrate.
--
Adeodato Simó
EM: asp16 [ykwim] alu.ua.es | PK: DA6AE621
Listening to: Pablo Carbonell - Yo te diré
The surest way to corrupt a youth is to instruct him to hold in higher
esteem those who think alike than those who think differently.
-- F. Nietzsche
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