[odf-discuss] Smart package manager

[Lars D. Noodén]

On Thu, 4 Jan 2007, Peter Vandenabeele wrote:
> FWIW, I would be willing to offer some help on the Debian/Ubuntu side
> of things (e.g. testing the installation of the .deb on different versions
> of Debian and Ubuntu).  ...
> I am not experienced enough at this time to make .deb packages
> myself (interested though ;-)  ...

If make && make install run no problem, then it should be a piece of cake 
to turn it into a package for APT.  It can probably be done as a script 
after the first time.

Here are some guesses about relevant instructions:
  http://www.debian.org/doc/manuals/maint-guide/ch-first.en.html
  http://www.debian.org/doc/manuals/maint-guide/ch-checkit.en.html

  http://tldp.org/HOWTO/html_single/Debian-Binary-Package-Building-HOWTO/

an example using the package ClamAV:
  http://www.falkotimme.com/howtos/checkinstall/

I made .deb packages for APT rather frequently in 2002 and 2003, though 
for the kernel, which is a slightly different process, and not since.

For kernel packages, according to my notes, everything took less than 
three hours including researching the process on Usenet, downloading 
source code, configuring, minor trial and error, cussing a little, eating 
dinner, and so on. Making the packages involved a few minutes for three 
extra steps beyond the normal build process.  YMMV

-Lars

Lars Noodén
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