Repackaging a Debian package for use with Breezy

[Andrew Conkling]

On 2/20/06, Stefan Potyra <sistpoty at ubuntu.com> wrote:
> Am Montag 20 Februar 2006 18:49 schrieb Andrew Conkling:
> > I am new to Ubuntu (for the second time :), having gone around the
> > block a time or two and having spent a lot of time with Arch Linux)
> > and this time around I am looking to get into packaging a bit more.
> > My first goal is to get my own Python program (and its dependencies)
> > packaged for Breezy.  Fortunately, another guy has packaged it for
> > Debian (http://packages.debian.org/unstable/sound/pygmy) so it would
> > just be a matter of hacking the various packages to work with Ubuntu.
>
> Since it is in debian, it already is in ubuntu dapper (I just checked). We
> cannot add this pacakge to breezy though, since breezy is already finalized.

Hey Stefan, thanks for the reply.
 I didn't even think to check if it would be added; that's great to
hear!  (It also spurs me on to get a few things worked on so that the
version in Dapper would be even more stable and usable. :)

I understand that it can't be added to Breezy, but all the same, I
would like to create a package for Breezy that I can host on the
website (and install for my own use).  I guess you could consider it
an exercise in package creation and edition.  I'll look for a how-to
on modifying a Dapper package for use in Breezy.

> > There's a veritable wealth of information out there regarding Debian
> > packaging.  From the Debian maintainers' guide, I get the impression
> > that all I would have to change is the control file for the package.
> > However, I'm not sure if anything else would need to be changed, nor
> > am I sure how to go about getting to the control file from the
> > package.  The pbuilder howto explains how to get a source package from
> > an Ubuntu repository, but this package isn't in an Ubuntu repository,
> > unfortunately.  Would I add a Debian repository to my pbuilder's apt
> > list, or would there be a better way?
>
> If you intent to do packaging work for ubuntu, you should always build your
> packages to the development version (i.e. dapper) and have your pbuilder use
> dapper sources.

OK, good to know.  But once you have a package built and ready, how do
you use it on your stable installation?  (I'm assuming you don't run
Dapper for day-to-day use.)  Would you backport it yourself?

> > (I was surprised to find that the Ubuntu wiki didn't have a salient
> > howto for modifying an existing Debian package for Ubuntu, but I'd
> > certainly be willing to write one once I get this ball rolling.)
> >
> > Could anyone help with that, and provide any pointers for other things
> > that I would need to check?  I've set up a pbuilder chroot just fine,
> > but the howto is lean on explaining how to use it to build packages
> > and I couldn't find another page that laid out the process for
> > building and testing in pbuilder and then installing on Breezy.
>
> There are quite some pages in the ubuntu wiki (probably distributed over
> several pages) which contain good information or point to good resources,
> some located under MOTU/Packages...

Yes, I saw most of these pages, but they seem to have conflicting
information or different methods and styles, etc.  After reading and
rereading them, I certainly didn't feel confident that I understood
very much.  It's my plan to create a howto based on what I learn, so I
guess I'll just start collecting notes. :)

> I guess the best place if you have questions is to come to #ubuntu-motu on
> irc.freenode.org, where we can directly answer your questions.

I'll stop in when I'm around, thanks. :)

--
http://aconkling.blogspot.com