On Tue, Apr 24, 2007 at 03:59:56AM -0700, John Pye wrote:
> I'm trying to get my head around package building with Debian, coming
> from my earlier experiences with RPMs.
Welcome to Debian!
> One technique which I found quite good with RPMs was the ability to
> create a tarball that *included* the necessary .spec file, and then
> just typing "rpmbuild -ta mytarball.tar.bz2". This would extract the
> spec file from the tarball and then proceed with the build in my
> special build directory (/usr/src/rpm or wherever).
>
> Is there any comparable way of building a .deb package from a single
> tarball like this?
Not that I know of. But you can do it from an expanded source directory
in several ways:
$ cd $sourcedir ; dpkg-buildpackage -rfakeroot
or if you just want the .deb and don't need build-dependencies checked:
$ cd $sourcedir ; fakeroot debian/rules binary
> The reason I ask is because I am packaging *my own* software. Being
> required to apply a diff against my own tarball in this case doesn't
> seem to make sense. Most of the tutorials seem to assume that you are
> packaging someone else's code, so the focus is a bit different.
You don't *have* to have a .diff - this is the case for "native"
packages. It's worth noting that native packages will not have a
debian-specific version number (e.g. "1.3" instead of the non-native
"1.3-1").
If you start of with your "raw" (non-debianized) source directory and run
$ cd $sourcedir; dh_make --native
you should start off in the right direction (read up on dh_make first -
it's in the dh-make package) [1]
If you're doing you own software, then you probably want the debian/
directory in subversion too - and svn-buildpackage is your friend.
> So: assuming I have complete control over what is in my tarball, what
> is the neatest, tidiest and safest way to set up and run an
> actual .deb build?
Neat, tidy and safe? I'm sure that these goals must be conflicting in
some respects :-)
There are several build tools available in debian, some of which are:
- pbuilder - handy for building in a controlled environment (=chroot)
- pbuilder-uml - build in an virtual machine
- pentium-builder/athlon-builder - architecture-optimized packages
and lots more - mostly geared towards automated builds, usually starting
with the .dsc and tarball source...
Hope this helps
[1] dh-make is the traditional debian package build system - there are
others (newer ones) around too (which I never experimented with).
Anything that ends up with a valid .deb file will do.
--
Karl E. Jorgensen
karl@jorgensen.org.uk http://www.jorgensen.org.uk/
karl@jorgensen.com http://karl.jorgensen.com
==== Today's fortune:
The ratio of literacy to illiteracy is a constant, but nowadays the
illiterates can read.
-- Alberto Moravia
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