How difficult is it to package Binary-only software as .deb?
I've got a GVX1 card wich is only supported, software-wise under Xfree864.2.0
and for hardware accelleration, I have to use Accelerated-X. For the moment,
I'm using XFree864.2.0 compiled from source for most of my work and the demo
X-Server from XIG when I need hardware acceleration. As the XIG server is
$129.00 to buy, I would like to be sure I can install it permenately before I
pay for it. XIG only provide .rpm's, which I've converted using alien, but
I've never trusted alien and I still had to build parts manually before it
worked. I know I can use alien to extract the rpm. There are a few sources,
mostly binaries and some libs. Here are the important things I know.
1) First, the system has to build a module for the current kernel which needs
to be loaded before the server will work.
2)XIG provides it's own OpenGL code and libs. They recommend removing ALL
traces of other OpenGL/MESA before installing theirs. I didn't do this, and
it currently works, but it's better safe than sorry.
3) The X Server from XIG provides X. This package should take priority over
even future versions of XFree86 unless the user specifically wants to replace
it with XFree86.
So, the thing I want to do is:
Create a .deb that;
1) Will compile and install the kernel module, insuring that the module loads
at boot time.
2) Conflict with and remove ALL other versions of OpenGL/MESA/XFree86 etc.
3) Install the X Server binaries, and
4) Put X on permanent hold until the user specifically requests to replace it.
I realise this goes against the very grain of Debian GNU/Linux, but some of
us need to use Proprietory X Servers to get full use of our graphics cards.
I've asked XIG to re-consider supporting Debian, but they see Debian as a
small target not yet worth supporting. I was hoping that by 'rolling my own
.deb' I could provide them with a valid template they could use for
converting their other X Servers to Debian format.
How difficult would this be for someone with only limited knowledge of Linux
and X and even less knowledge of .deb formats? I've read the developers mini
howto, but it assumes you are starting with GPL'd code. Obviously none of
this code is GPL'd, and most of it is binary-only. I'm esspecially concerned
with getting the conflicts right so that this package can cleanly remove
XFree86 and install the XIG server and ensuring that future dist-upgrades
will not replace the XIG server with newer XFree86 .deb's.
Thank you for any tips, hints, pointer to FM's that I should read or any
other useful mails.
Cheers,
John Gay
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