Packaging GUI

[ofir_k]

Hello,

I want to write a program with a gui which creates packages.

The problem is that I don't know how to package and when I tried reading manuals (from the Ubuntu wiki, the Debian site and some other sites) I didn't understand them.

So, if someone (who knows how to package) can help me with this, I (and others who struggle to package their program) will be grateful.

Regards,
Ofir

[az]

Hello,

I want to write a program with a gui which creates packages.

The problem is that I don't know how to package and when I tried reading manuals (from the Ubuntu wiki, the Debian site and some other sites) I didn't understand them.

So, if someone (who knows how to package) can help me with this, I (and others who struggle to package their program) will be grateful.

Regards,
Ofir

https://wiki.ubuntu.com/MOTU/Events#head-85289011736e6cd32528975e164376d78fae45ad
https://wiki.ubuntu.com/MOTU/GettingStarted
http://daniel.holba.ch/blog/?p=62

I would be weary of a deb package that was created by an automated tool. Deb packages created by checkinstall are known to screw up your system. One of the strengths of the package system in Debian/Ubuntu is that there is a competent human being who oversees the building and maintenance of each and every package.

[ofir_k]

I didn't understand you. What do you mean by "I would be weary of a deb package that was created by an automated tool"?

[ofir_k]

Someone is willing to help me with this?
I think that a gui would make this process a lot easier.

[ofir_k]

bump

Someone?
At least tell me what is neccsary for minimal package...

[dholbach]

Having a packaging GUI tool has been proposed lots of times already. The problem is that packaging an application is not necessarily trivial. There are a lot of things to respect and putting packages up for millions of users needs special care.

There are different types of packages (python, C, packages that just install some files, libraries, etc etc). I agree with you that packaging should be easier, but for me the proper way lies in simplifying the build tools we have already.

http://wiki.ubuntu.com/PackagingGuide

[ofir_k]

I read the documentation of the MUTO team, but found no reference to simple apps like, nautilus scripts, which only need to copy files to a specific directory.

I understand that for this type of packages, only a CHANGELOG, CONTROL and COPYRIGHT files are needed in the DEBIAN folder (since there is no need to compile the source...).
However, I don't understand how to structure the files hierarchy, since I want the files to be copied to ~/.gnome2/nautilus-scripts, but I don't know how to refer to the home directory.

[ofir_k]

So, how I package a nautilus script? (I wrote one a month ago, and for learning purposes I decided to package it...)

I have CONTROL, COPYRIGHT and CHANGELOG files, but I don't know how to arrange the directory tree (I want to place the file in ~/.gnome2/nautilus-scripts)

[loell]

in that case you can just build a simple deb with dpkg

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

follow the hands on and you can build a deb package for your nautilus script in no time. ;)

[dholbach]

Check out https://wiki.ubuntu.com/PackagingGuide/Lists/ReferencePackages for reference packages. example-content and ubuntu-artwork just install a few files too.