Re: clean way to package 3rd party software

[Carsten Aulbert <carsten@welcomes-you.com>]

martin f krafft wrote:

> Have a look at stow?
> 

Not in recent years, I think the last time was in ~ 2002.

> Also, there are checkinstall and installwatch, but be careful when
> using them as they might cause data loss. From my book:
> 
>   \programme{checkinstall} is limited in what it can do. To be
>   precise, the packages it creates can only install files, and
>   \programme{checkinstall} does not care where it installs them. You
>   can overwrite files in home directories with
>   \programme{checkinstall}, among other things. The generated
>   packages cannot modify files. If the installation routine modifies
>   existing files, they will be part of the generated package in
>   their entirety. A horror scenario occurs when an installation
>   routine adds a user by modification of \file{/etc/passwd}, which
>   is subsequently included in the package. Installation of the
>   package causes \file{/etc/passwd} to be completely replaced, and
>   the deinstallation of the package removes the file, breaking the
>   system in half. The generated packages also fail to register their
>   configuration files with \programme{dpkg}\footnote{But see
>   \link{http://bugs.debian.org/284786}!}, therefore paving the way
>   for upgrades that overwrite local configuration file changes.
> 

Ouch, thanks for the pointer. In the end I want to have a .deb file
which I can easily install. I'll look into stow, otherwise I'll continue
using my kludge.

Thanks!

Carsten