Re: Making a java 1.4.1 deb

[Ken Bloom <kabloom@ucdavis.edu>]

> mdevin sez:
> } Is there some way that I can use the Sun Linux install binary and
> } convert it to a deb so that when Blackdown releases theirs, my system
> } will automatically upgrade to their version? Actually, Blackdown has a
> } binary install version for 1.4.1 beta but no deb package. Is it
> } possible to use this and somehow make it into a .deb?
> [...]
>
> What I have done on my Debian install, with great success, is to use
> alien with the RPM that Sun makes available for Linux. It is vastly
> irritating that most software is released in RPM, but it is a delight
> that they can be converted to .deb and, often, installed and used
> successfully.
>
> That doesn't mean that everything will work with alien... but enough
> does, and that which does not can be rolled back easily.
>
> Note that it will not automatically upgrade with the Blackdown release.
> Indeed, it should conflict with it.

I personally used alien to convert the JDK RPM to a deb, however there 
is also a program in sarge called checkinstall which can monitor what an 
install process (either a dynamically-linked install binary, or a 
./configure && make && make install) does and package up the results 
into a tgz, an rpm, or a deb.

apt-get install checkinstall