Packaging both kernel modules and userspace applications

[Alberto Leiva <ydahhrk@gmail.com>]

Hi

I'm trying to package a couple of kernel modules that come with a few
userspace clients to interact with them.

I can package the kernel modules via DKMS, and have managed to package
the userspace clients by following the Debian New Maintainers' Guide.
So I have ended up with a means to create two packages; one for the
modules and one for the clients.

I'm wondering if a means to package them together exists. The New
Maintainers' Guide says nothing about kernel modules, and dkms.conf
seems to be designed for modules only, so I'm a little lost on where
to even start. Or am I expected to upload them separately? It doesn't
make much sense to install the modules but not the clients or
vice-versa. A colleague of mine found out that installing the clients
in the kernel modules' debian/postint script kind of does the trick,
but we agree that this is extremely unlikely to be an elegant
solution. I would like to spark minimal controversy when the package
is eventually proposed to Debian.
(https://bugs.debian.org/cgi-bin/bugreport.cgi?bug=883393)

If it helps, I don't need to be given the full answer. If someone
would point me to an existing package that already does this, I can
probably figure it out on my own.

Thank you
Alberto