How to make a "Basic" .deb

[curvedinfinity]

Note by slavik: discuss this how to here:
http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=1005178

Hey,
I recently had to figure out how to make a stand-alone debian package (not intended for a repository or build system), and it took quite some patience to wade through all of the complex ways of making debs for more complex distribution channels than a simple web download.

This tutorial shows the most basic way of packaging a simple already-compiled program.

1. Decide on the name of your package. Standard debian notation is all lowercase in the following format:
   

   <project>_<major version>.<minor version>-<package revision>

   For example, you could name your first package...
   

   helloworld_1.0-1

2. Create a directory to make your package in. The name should be the same as the package name.
   

   mkdir helloworld_1.0-1

3. Pretend that the packaging directory is actually the root of the file system. Put the files of your program where they would be installed to on a system.
   

   mkdir helloworld_1.0-1/usr
   mkdir helloworld_1.0-1/usr/local
   mkdir helloworld_1.0-1/usr/local/bin
   cp "~/Projects/Hello World/helloworld" helloworld_1.0-1/usr/local/bin

4. Now create a special metadata file with which the package manager will install your program...
   

   mkdir helloworld_1.0-1/DEBIAN
   gedit helloworld_1.0-1/DEBIAN/control

   Put something like this in that file...
   

   Package: helloworld
   Version: 1.0-1
   Section: base
   Priority: optional
   Architecture: i386
   Depends: libsomethingorrather (>= 1.2.13), anotherDependency (>= 1.2.6)
   Maintainer: Your Name <you@email.com>
   Description: Hello World
    When you need some sunshine, just run this
    small program!
    
    (the space before each line in the description is important)

5. Now you just need to make the package:
   

   dpkg-deb --build helloworld_1.0-1

And you're done!

That wasn't so hard, was it?

Just so you know, there are a lot more fields in the metadata file, and even extra whole configuration files which you can have dpkg work with, which I left out -- this is the bare bones of what's required.

Thanks to bobbocanfly for the following: If you happen to be looking for how to let the Ubuntu repositories include your project, you need to follow this guide: https://wiki.ubuntu.com/PackagingGuide/Complete. Then get in touch with the MOTU team at #ubuntu-motu on irc.freenode.net and ubuntu-motu@lists.ubuntu.com.