Build (backport) an newer Ubuntu package to run on an older Ubuntu version

[Toehead]

ubchenelle@brendan-laptop:~$ sudo prevu xserver-xorg-video-ati
I: Building against currently running distro: edgy
Reading package lists... Done
Building dependency tree
Reading state information... Done
Need to get 1004kB of source archives.
Get:1 http://archive.ubuntu.com edgy/main xserver-xorg-video-ati 1:6.6.2-0ubuntu4 (dsc) [1729B]
Get:2 http://archive.ubuntu.com edgy/main xserver-xorg-video-ati 1:6.6.2-0ubuntu4 (tar) [979kB]
Get:3 http://archive.ubuntu.com edgy/main xserver-xorg-video-ati 1:6.6.2-0ubuntu4 (diff) [23.2kB]
Fetched 1004kB in 11s (86.0kB/s)
gpg: WARNING: unsafe ownership on configuration file `/home/ubchenelle/.gnupg/gpg.conf'
gpg: Signature made Fri 06 Oct 2006 02:05:54 AM EDT using RSA key ID 63549F8E
gpg: Can't check signature: public key not found
dpkg-source: extracting xserver-xorg-video-ati in xserver-xorg-video-ati-6.6.2
dpkg-source: unpacking xserver-xorg-video-ati_6.6.2.orig.tar.gz
dpkg-source: applying ./xserver-xorg-video-ati_6.6.2-0ubuntu4.diff.gz
dch warning: new version (1:6.6.2-0ubuntu4~6.10prevu1) is less than
the current version number (1:6.6.2-0ubuntu4).
W: /home/ubchenelle/.pbuilderrc does not exist
W: /home/ubchenelle/.pbuilderrc does not exist
Building the build Environment
-> extracting base tarball [/var/cache/prevu/edgy.tgz]
-> creating local configuration
hostname: Unknown host
Traceback (most recent call last):
File "/usr/bin/prevu", line 146, in ?
BackportFromAPT(sys.argv[1],DIST).backport()
File "/usr/bin/prevu", line 86, in backport
self.do_compile()
File "/usr/bin/prevu", line 67, in do_compile
raise ValueError("Build failed.")
ValueError: Build failed.


This is the error I get trying to upgrade my ATI drivers. The same goes for any package i try to install. Any ideas? Thanks
-Brendan

[fuoco]

Toehead: maybe you didn't do prevu-init or something like that? At any rate, I told you to use the dsc files from debian testing because the version in feisty you are trying to backport is the same as the one you already have in edgy, so even when you succeed it would give you no benefit I predict. If it does tell me

[jdong]

Thanks for this great tool. I'm having trouble with a two-part backport of Feisty's Rhythmbox to Edgy. Rhythmbox in Feisty needs an updated gpod lib, which I've backported using prevu and installed. However, I still get this error:

 -> Considering  libgpod-dev (>= 0.4.0-0ubuntu3)
      Tried versions: 0.4.0-0ubuntu3~6.10prevu1 0.3.2-1.1ubuntu1
   -> Does not satisfy version, not trying
E: Could not satisfy build-dependency.

This seems to indicate that it sees the updated libgpod but doesn't believe that it satisfies the dependency, even though it looks like it should. What's going on here? Thanks.

Ah, it's looking for 0.4.0-0ubuntu3, but it's finding 0.4.0-0ubuntu3~6.10prevu1, which due to the backports version tags appears lower than the desired version.

What you need to do is apt-get source rhythmbox, edit debian/control, and change the libgpod-dev dependency from 0.4.0-0ubuntu3 to 0.4.0-0ubuntu3~6.10prevu1. Then, you can just issue prevu in the unpacked source directory you just edited and it'll build.

[Toehead]

Toehead: maybe you didn't do prevu-init or something like that? At any rate, I told you to use the dsc files from debian testing because the version in feisty you are trying to backport is the same as the one you already have in edgy, so even when you succeed it would give you no benefit I predict. If it does tell me

don't worry, i didnt forget what you told me! i only tried the fiesty ones after the debian testing files gave me that error message! I'm re-doing my prevu init Thanks!

[Toehead]

Also, since installing prevu, I suddenly have 550 update notifications. i assume this is normal?

I think my problems are caused by the gpg key error, but I have no idea how to resolve it.

[jdong]

a community backport repo is what we need. Ubuntu security team is focused on security backports and Ubuntu backporting team on other critical backports, then a community backport repo could provide other less essential packages, which would be nice to have for many people.

I'd prefer it if community backports are done through the official backports repositories. You can request any package you want, and as long as prevu will build it, it'll be acceptable.

The only thing right now holding packages back from mass-backporting is my limited man-hours for testing packages. So if more people can get involved with helping official backports test packages with prevu, we can make our official backports repository very complete

[Toehead]

well, previe -init wasnt the problem., does anybody know how to proceed?

[jdong]

Also, since installing prevu, I suddenly have 550 update notifications. i assume this is normal?

I think my problems are caused by the gpg key error, but I have no idea how to resolve it.

No, that's absolutely not normal! What kind of packages does it claim can be updated?

[Toehead]

starting at the top
aduser, alsa-base, alsa utils, anacron, apt, apt-utils, aptitude, aspell-en, at-spi to name a few.. It asks me to do a distribution upgrade.

[jdong]

wow, it seems like it wants to upgrade to a newer version of ubuntu... very weird.

Can you post your sources.list in code tags or pastebin and also what version of ubuntu you're running?