cga wrote:
I am currently switching to Debian and I have a bunch of utilities,
wmaker applets,
etc.. in source format that I would like to reinstall on the new system.
Unfortunately
a number of these are not available as .deb's.
As I see it I can either copy them to /usr/local/tarballs & do the usual
./configure/make/
make-install dance or try to create .deb's myself. This last approach
being probably
the more dangerous.
Is there any place in the Debian literature where this issue is
discussed? Any guidelines
concerning source(non-debian) install on Debian system? Are there any
tools that might
help automate the conversion of source packages to the .deb format?
The new maintainer's guide talks about how to build .deb packages. It
is the most "academically correct" solution. For a quick and dirty
solution, use checkinstall. It is in unstable. Basically you do this:
tar zxvf <your-source-package>
cd <your-source-directory>
./configure <with-desired-options>
make
su
checkinstall make install
Answer the few questions at the end to tweak the version and package
name to your liking and viola, you have a Debianized package that
integrates with your package database for your non-Debian source
package. I have used successfully for several projects I am developing.
I olnly wish I had known about it sooner.