compiling debian packages (was Re: number of problems...)

[Craig Sanders <cas@taz.net.au>]

On Mon, 15 Sep 1997, David wrote:

> Is there a window maker package for the stable release?

for most packages in unstable, you can easily compile them for stable. i
don't actually know of any exceptions, but i expect that there would be
a few programs which absolutely depend on libc6 development tools.

so, to compile an unstable package for stable you do:

1. make sure you have all the development tools installed - compiler and
   dev libraries, dpkg-dev, debmake, and others. remember, you need to
   install the -dev packages for any libraries which the package is
   dependant upon. e.g. libc5-dev for all packages, xlib6-dev for X
   programs (many X progs also require xpm-dev), etc.

   in your case, you'd want to set up one of your machines as a complete
   development system - install every development package you're ever
   likely to need and do your compiling on that.

2.  mkdir /usr/src/foo
    cd /usr/src/foo

3. download the source files. for the hypothetical package foo version X.X,
   that would be:

        foo_X.X-1.diff.gz
        foo_X.X-1.dsc
        foo_X.X.orig.tar.gz

4.  extract the debianised source code with:

        dpkg-source -x foo_X.X-1.dsc

5.  cd foo-X.X

6.  edit the source and Makefile(s) if required.

7.  compile the program and build a package by typing:

        build

8.  if all goes well, you can install the package with dpkg as normal.

        cd ..
        dpkg -i foo_X.X-1_i386.deb


be warned: the above is mostly accurate but quite simplified. for simple
packages it will be as straightforward as this. more complex packages
will be harder...start with something simple for practice.

> Otherwise I imaging this is annother of those I'm using the unstable
> stuff and really shouldn't be...

yeah. you don't want to run unstable at the moment....especially X
stuff.  X just got released re-compiled for libc6 recently. wait until
it settles down a bit before trying it.

in general, however, it is quite safe to follow the HOWTO that was
posted here recently on upgrading to libc6/unstable....then you can run
select packages from unstable - just don't do a full upgrade to unstable
at the moment!


craig

PS: hunt around for more info on compiling debian packages before trying
this. somebody (i forget who at the moment) is maintaining a FAQ/web
page which is much better than the notes above. i can't remember the
URL right now...search through the debian-user archives, there was some
discussion on it within the last few weeks.

--
craig sanders
networking consultant                  Available for casual or contract
temporary autonomous zone              system administration tasks.


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