The scripts in this directory are supposed to ease the creation of Debian packages. The focus in on Debian sid (i.e. unstable), but tweaks for other systems using dpkg are permitted.

To avoid cluttering up git with lots of tarballs, a script generates them on the fly. For this, run

$ ./download-origs.sh

These are created by running

$ ./create-dscs.sh

This overwrites most of the work that may have been done in the package source subdirectories, so when working on the packages, rebuild the dsc files manually, by running dpkg-source -b ..

You may have to setup GnuPG with a set of keys so it can sign the results.

There are many ways to build debian packages and the tested one is based on pbuilder.

The way pbuilder works is by creating a chroot with a Debian system inside that contains only the base packages. From there it installs the build dependencies of your package, builds it and finally extracts the .deb file from within the chroot to store it in /var/cache/pbuilder/result. That initial system comes from a cached filesystem tarball that you have to create first, using

$ sudo pbuilder create --distribution sid

If you want to build for a different distribution, adapt as appropriate (but sid is the best tested distribution).

Since the packages depend on another but are generated independently, pbuilder needs access to the packages it built in an earlier run. The easiest way to do that is to make pbuilder's results directory a package archive for pbuilder.

Edit /etc/pbuilderrc to contain the lines

HOOKDIR=/etc/pbuilder/hook.d
BINDMOUNTS=/var/cache/pbuilder/result

Add a file /etc/pbuilder/hook.d/D05self-archive containing

apt-get install --assume-yes apt-utils

cd /var/cache/pbuilder/result/
rm -f InRelease Packages Packages.gz Release Release.gpg Sources Sources.gz

apt-ftparchive packages . > /var/cache/pbuilder/result/Packages
apt-ftparchive release . > Release
apt-ftparchive sources . > Sources 2>/dev/null

cat<<EOF >/etc/apt/sources.list.d/apt-ftparchive.list
deb [trusted=yes] file:///var/cache/pbuilder/result/ ./
EOF

cat<<EOF >/etc/apt/preferences
Package: *
Pin: release o=pbuilder
Pin-Priority: 701
EOF

apt-get -qy update

Add another file /etc/pbuilder/hook.d/I99self-archive containing

cd /var/cache/pbuilder/result/
rm -f InRelease Packages Packages.gz Release Release.gpg Sources Sources.gz

apt-ftparchive packages . > /var/cache/pbuilder/result/Packages
apt-ftparchive release . > Release
apt-ftparchive sources . > Sources 2>/dev/null

Finally make the files executable with chmod +x /etc/pbuilder/hook.d/{D05self-archive,I99self-archive}.

This is as simple as running

$ sudo pbuilder build [package.dsc]

There's a convenience script to build them all in the right order:

$ ./build-from-dsc.sh

To update a package, several steps need to be done:

1. Update the version number in versions.inc.sh
2. Download the new tarball: ./download-origs.sh and check that they're correct
3. Move the source directory: git mv package-old-version package-new-version
4. Clean out the package's source tree: cd package-new-version && git clean -fdx $PWD && cd ..
5. Unpack the new sources: tar xf package-new-version.tar.*
6. Update the package's changelog: cd package-new-version && dch -d && dch -r && cd ..
7. Create the dsc files: ./create-dscs.sh
8. Build the packages: ./build-from-dsc.sh

After double-checking everything, git commit -a and push for review!

To install the entire desktop environment, just install the nextspace-desktop package. This might require some preparation though.

To tell apt to look for the packages created by pbuilder, just create a file /etc/apt/sources.list.d/nextspace containing

deb [trusted=yes] file:///var/cache/pbuilder/result/ ./

After running apt-get update the package manager will use the packages generated with pbuilder.

You'll need to manually enable the plymouth theme if you want to use it: sudo plymouth-set-default-theme nextspace

This integration used several sources that informed how the packages are built:

• Debian's pbuilder Tricks page provided the base for the pbuilder hooks.
• gnustep-build helped figuring out some of configuration details required to integrate libobjc2.
• Debian packages were reused as much as possible: gnustep-{make,base,gui,back}, but renamed to nextspace-* so they can be installed side-by-side.
• trunkmaster provided lots of advice.