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> If you’re using OS X you can install it from homebrew (brew install dpkg). While you can build a package of something simple like this example (static html), as soon as you want to compile a binary you're going to need to be building on the same environment as you're targeting. I'd suggest removing any mention of OSX from the guide, or making it clear of the limitations of trying to build debs on it.
This is a tutorial for building quick one-off packages that won't ever be accepted by debian but that you can use with your own servers. If you want to do that, you will be better off using Jordan Sissel's fpm tool: https://github.com/jordansissel/fpm It can take any project and quickly package it into a .deb, .rpm, .whatever package.
Being a Debian maintainer, that is a very bad and low quality tutorial. You missed a lot of files in debian directory, even your example of control file is not good enough, you're using practices to build package which would reject your package from even entering Debian. Also lintian is a must be if you work with Debian (and it would really scream with your tutorial). Better tutorials: https://wiki.debian.org/IntroDe…
Those are definitely better links, but a while back I needed a quick guide to make something that worked on private servers. I couldn't find a quickstart guide, so I decided to make one. Thanks for the feedback!
What does Debian miss that you need for your servers (I am really interested).
Also for quick and dirty you could use checkinstall.
There is also a good tutorial on DigitalOcean about fpm:
https://www.digitalocean.com/community/tutorials/how-to-use-...
And just maybe me nitpicking too much but the title should be then "How to quickly create deb package for personal needs". Notice that this means you don't get Debian Security support for your own package so that can be a huge breaker for many people running servers :)
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Those are definitely better links, but a while back I needed a quick guide to make something that worked on private servers. I couldn't find a quickstart guide, so I decided to make one. Thanks for the feedback!
You really should take more care of servers :) What does Debian miss that you need for your servers (I am really interested). Also for quick and dirty you could use checkinstall. There is also a good tutorial on DigitalOcean about fpm: https://www.digitalocean.com/community/tutorials/how-to-use-... And just maybe me nitpicking too much but the title should be then "How to quickly create deb package for personal needs…
I agree with the modified title suggestion and have changed the title of my blog post.
Thanks for your feedback! :)
Being a Debian maintainer, that is a very bad and low quality tutorial. You missed a lot of files in debian directory, even your example of control file is not good enough, you're using practices to build package which would reject your package from even entering Debian. Also lintian is a must be if you work with Debian (and it would really scream with your tutorial). Better tutorials: https://wiki.debian.org/IntroDe…
The Debian packaging pipeline is really insanely complex. Arch packaging barely needs a tutorial at all. The best part about it is how all the packaging tools are shipped with the package manager. pacman can install remote packages as well as tarballs, and "makepkg" ships with pacman.
Scratch that actually - the best part about it is how development libraries ship alongside the packages. I really don't miss having to install -dev packages all the time, especially having hundreds of them polluting all my queries.
When I tried creating packages for debian (this was quite a way back and it seems like things have improved, but not that much), I spent ages getting all the packages I needed in the first place and I had to keep track of far too many commands, had to constantly re-open the tutorials every time I wanted to create a new one. The PPA system is also far too cumbersome for one-off packages you want to distribute, compared to distributing just a PKGBUILD / source package (especially since arch has the AUR).
I feel the debian world could really stand to take some lessons from Arch in that aspect.
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You really should take more care of servers :) What does Debian miss that you need for your servers (I am really interested). Also for quick and dirty you could use checkinstall. There is also a good tutorial on DigitalOcean about fpm: https://www.digitalocean.com/community/tutorials/how-to-use-... And just maybe me nitpicking too much but the title should be then "How to quickly create deb package for personal needs…
I wasn't aware of the DigitalOcean tutorials and the tutorials on debian.org (at least the ones I saw) were pretty dense. I wanted to just package it up and get it running within a few hours (quick dirty install as you said) and couldn't use anything else due to external constraints. I agree with the modified title suggestion and have changed the title of my blog post. Thanks for your feedback! :)
For simple things you probably want to use in future more of checkinstall (to keep it easier for yourself the creation, installation and removal part):
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I wasn't aware of the DigitalOcean tutorials and the tutorials on debian.org (at least the ones I saw) were pretty dense. I wanted to just package it up and get it running within a few hours (quick dirty install as you said) and couldn't use anything else due to external constraints. I agree with the modified title suggestion and have changed the title of my blog post. Thanks for your feedback! :)
You welcome and thanks for taking suggestions into account. For simple things you probably want to use in future more of checkinstall (to keep it easier for yourself the creation, installation and removal part): https://wiki.debian.org/CheckInstall
Being a Debian maintainer, that is a very bad and low quality tutorial. You missed a lot of files in debian directory, even your example of control file is not good enough, you're using practices to build package which would reject your package from even entering Debian. Also lintian is a must be if you work with Debian (and it would really scream with your tutorial). Better tutorials: https://wiki.debian.org/IntroDe…
I don't mean to stir up trouble so don't take my comment offensively or anything - but every time I see debian packaging being talked about reminds me how thankful I should be to only have to deal with Arch packages. The Debian packaging pipeline is really insanely complex. Arch packaging barely needs a tutorial at all. The best part about it is how all the packaging tools are shipped with the package manager. pacman…
You can build Debian packages as Arch but that wouldn't be the Debian way.
Stability - our QA process is huge and much more strict then the Arch one. We often notice upstream bugs during our packaging and testing process and we also often patch them before upstream.
Security - we have Debian Security Team which is ruthless and security is a big focus so when for example the Chromium security problems was found, it was also noticed that that feature was disabled in Debian chromium package by default.
Upgrading - I don't think any distro can offer this without issues and those issues are exactly prevented with out packaging guides and Debian Policy. In Arch you would get from time to time - please do this manual things in order to upgrade to next version of this software. While in Debian you can go to trip to Mars, live there for few years, come back and then just apt update && apt dist-upgrade the thing and go on coffee without worry.
Also notice we had much before Arch the gpg signing of packages, you can't become Debian maintainer without at least two Debian Developer signatures on your key which happen in face-to-face meetings (so we create a web of trust you will not introduce bad code in your packaging).
So yes, you are correct that easier is to create Arch package then Debian official one, but in Debian you can also create very quickly packages (checkinstall, fpm etc etc) but then you miss all the power of Debian and you're on your own with those packages and potential breakage with system (or is that a freedom you have?) :)
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I don't mean to stir up trouble so don't take my comment offensively or anything - but every time I see debian packaging being talked about reminds me how thankful I should be to only have to deal with Arch packages. The Debian packaging pipeline is really insanely complex. Arch packaging barely needs a tutorial at all. The best part about it is how all the packaging tools are shipped with the package manager. pacman…
There is a big difference in quality of packages. Debian primary focus is stability, security, upgrading from 5 years old package to newest, strict freedom. You can build Debian packages as Arch but that wouldn't be the Debian way. Stability - our QA process is huge and much more strict then the Arch one. We often notice upstream bugs during our packaging and testing process and we also often patch them before upstre…
It's well known that the debian repositories are extremely well reviewed and tested. But you could have that with Arch's packaging system as well.
When someone builds a package themselves however, they are not expecting Debian's QA & testing nor are they usually interested in it. But a package, untested as it may be, is far, far better than a sudo make install.
When I used debian this was such a huge pain. Building packages was not worth the hassle so I would simply sudo make install and feel awful about it, and end up with conflicts and everything that a package manager is supposed to solve...
Earlier quoted context omitted.
There is a big difference in quality of packages. Debian primary focus is stability, security, upgrading from 5 years old package to newest, strict freedom. You can build Debian packages as Arch but that wouldn't be the Debian way. Stability - our QA process is huge and much more strict then the Arch one. We often notice upstream bugs during our packaging and testing process and we also often patch them before upstre…
You are conflating curation/QA and packaging. Packaging itself should not care about the quality of the packages. It's well known that the debian repositories are extremely well reviewed and tested. But you could have that with Arch's packaging system as well. When someone builds a package themselves however, they are not expecting Debian's QA & testing nor are they usually interested in it. But a package, untested a…
As you said, Arch could have all that but it doesn't and there are the reason why people who use Debian don't use Arch. Again, you can quickly make deb packages without following any of our docs and no, package manager should not solve what differs from our official build quality and Debian Policy (it would be too much hassle to predict and implement in how many ways people can break their system).
I am glad that Arch exists, so everyone has a freedom to choose it if they want :)