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BoyLinux · Posted: Thu Feb 22, 2007 5:49 pm Post subject: Repackaging Basics

This is how I do most of my packages.
As a minimum to start you need to the C/C++ Development Tool s and Debian Development Tools installed from XN.
I find the software that I would like to package and go to
snapshot.debian.net
Search for the package and click on details.
This will show all the versions that are available.
Typically I will download the latest version of the software that I want.
You will need to download all three files from here.
There will be the orig file which is the original software, the dsc file which is the package description file and the diff file which is the difference between the original software and what the debian maintainer had to do to get it to work with Debian.

Now you need to uncompress the package to get it ready for compiling
To do this run as your user dpkg-source -x nameof.dsc
This will create a directory for the software and apply the diffs.
Go into the directory and run
dpkg-buildpackage -rfakeroot
Fakeroot is a program that will give the appropriate root permissions to the file without needing to create it as root.

This will usually give you a list of dependencies that you are missing. This is the were the tricky part comes into play.
Install all the dependencies as root using XN or apt. You will most likely need unsupported enabled.
Some packages will have newer versions listed as needed then provided by Xandros.
You can try to edit debian/control to match those that are provided by Xandros and try to compile or download the ones listed from snapshot and compile them.

What I try to do is to bring down the requirements as close to Xandros as possible and have the package still compile. This may take some trial and error and guess work but it is best this way as you do not want to be compiling a whole new backend for only one package.

The packages debhelper and quilt are used by a lot of newer packages. You can download the ones on www.clanfos.net/packages which seem to fullfil the requirements for most packages and all others can usually be downgraded to this version.

If you get an error about missing libXcuror.la or libXrander.la install the xorg-compt package from www.clanfos.net/packages

Any questions from perticular packages post them here and I'll try my best to answer them.
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geekydude · Posted: Thu Mar 01, 2007 5:36 pm Post subject: Re: Repackaging Basics

BoyLinux · Posted: Thu Mar 01, 2007 7:39 pm Post subject:

Wow a good simple package for me to play with.
I'll have to try it out and write down how I did it and I'll post back later on this.

Don't expect anything tomorrow because we are getting nailed with 30+cm of snow tongiht and tomorrow so I forsee a lot of shovelling in my immediate future.
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geekydude · Posted: Thu Mar 01, 2007 10:59 pm Post subject:

geekydude · Posted: Sat Mar 03, 2007 6:00 pm Post subject:

Okay...
I've just created my very first deb ever! Razz

I used your instructions above, and after a slight learning curve, I made an installable deb.

But the above instructions include the majority of the work is already done... Confused

That puts at square one, and I'll patiently wait for your instructions for setting it up without having everything setup and ready to make debs. Smile

Thanks for the instructions so far!

Sounds like you're learning also, so we can learn together. Cool

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aldube · Posted: Mon Mar 05, 2007 12:20 pm Post subject:

Nice; this thread should get stickied to the top of this forum, as it contains tips we don't want to be searching all over for 6 months down the road. Wink

There's all kind of useful tips in this forum for creating DEBs like here:
http://forums.xandros.com/viewtopic.php?t=19893

geekydude · Posted: Mon Mar 05, 2007 3:52 pm Post subject:

This weekend, I put lots of work into locating a usable copy of the KDE style called "Domino".

It's a really fantastic look that allows you to adjust the level of "shine" your themes display. It goes with the Darkplastic2 theme on http://kde-look.org

My question is...

The version of Domino I finally got to install was a SUSE RPM.
I'd like to have a Deb to share with fellow Xandrosians down the road.

When alien converts an RPM into a Deb, where does the DEB go?
How can I get a copy of it?
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BoyLinux · Posted: Mon Mar 05, 2007 4:03 pm Post subject:

Xandros Networks does it only temporarily then removes the deb.
You can convert it on the command line using alien --to-deb whatever.rpm and it will reconstitue it to a deb and save it in the same directory.
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geekydude · Posted: Mon Mar 05, 2007 4:13 pm Post subject:

BoyLinux · Posted: Mon Mar 05, 2007 4:24 pm Post subject:

http://www.rapidshare.com/
You might want to sign up for Matty's forums and ask to put it up on his box.
Or if it is not too big send it to me and I can put it on my server but I onyl have 500MB disk space.
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geekydude · Posted: Mon Mar 12, 2007 2:41 pm Post subject:

BoyLinux · Posted: Mon Mar 12, 2007 2:46 pm Post subject:

Very cool.
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geekydude · Posted: Mon Mar 12, 2007 2:56 pm Post subject:

I appreciate your offer for helping me out with some hosting, but when checking it out, I saw too much stuff to ask that of your site, so I got my own site setup.

If you have anything that needs hosting, I've got lots of space and bandwidth, and would love to mirror it.

I still need to figure out packaging, but I've at least put lots of stuff in the forums and elsewhere in one place where it's easy to find and download.
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geekydude
registered Linux user number 410045.

The source will be with you...always....

BoyLinux · Posted: Mon Mar 12, 2007 3:06 pm Post subject:

What is the hosting plan you have?
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Kevin MacPherson
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"The greatest obstacle to discovery is not ignorance -- it is the illusion of knowledge."

geekydude · Posted: Mon Mar 12, 2007 3:27 pm Post subject: