Penguin
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Some notes from the WLUG meeting on Debian and packaging:

To create Debian packages, install:

dpkg-dev, file, gcc, g++, libc6-dev, make, patch, perl, dh-make, debhelper, fakeroot, gnupg and lintian.

  • Get the source, make sure the source works
  • Run dh_make -e your@maintainer.address -f ../filename-version.tar.gz in the source dir & pick package type
  • Make the program install in a subdirectory using Makefile and debian/rules
  • Edit debian/control, changelog, copyright, README.Debian etc
  • dpkg-buildpackage -rfakeroot

Investigate package with dpkg --info file, dpkg --contents file and lintian file


The official reference for package building is the "Debian New Maintainer's Guide", available at http://www.debian.org/doc/maint-guide/

The "Debian Policy Manual" is also an invaluable reference with lots of the finer details and information on making your packages comply with the Debian Policy (a must if you are trying to get them in to the actual distribution), get it at http://www.debian.org/doc/debian-policy/