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Revision 13 as of 2008-03-30 02:12:14

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DebianPackaging

This page describes how to make custom Debian packages for HCoop.

TableOfContents()

1. Overview

The idea is to keep track of each custom HCoop Debian package using three branches, which are as follows.

  1. upstream: The source code from the current release of the upstream software.

  2. debian: The source code plus the latest Debian packaging that Debian has for the software.

  3. master: The source code plus the latest Debian packaging plus any changes that HCoop has made to the source or the packaging.

2. Making a new custom package

If you want to make changes to an existing Debian package, and we haven't made our own custom package before, then do the following.

mkdir -p /afs/hcoop.net/common/debian/<pkg>/<upstream-version>
cd /afs/hcoop.net/common/debian/<pkg>/<upstream-version>
# Browse http://packages.debian.org/<pkg> and find a link to a dsc file
# If you already have the .dsc, .diff.gz, and orig tarball downloaded
# to the current directory, then skip this step.
dget http://path/to/file.dsc
git-import-dsc --debian-branch=debian <pkg>-<ver>.dsc
cd <pkg>

These last two steps create a subdirectory named after the package. The subdirectory has the complete source, including the ./debian directory. The original tarball (without ./debian) is in the "upstream" branch, and the original stuff plus Debian changes would be in the "debian" branch, and a copy of the contents of the "debian" branch is placed in the "master" branch. You will be in the "master" branch now.

Make your HCoop-specific changes (preferably in an incremental and atomic fashion) and commit them using git.

2.1. hcoopifying the debian package

  1. Open debian/changelog in emacs and invoke M-x debian-changelog-mode.

  2. Press C-c C-v to create a new entry in the changelog and set the version so that the portion after the dash is hcoop1 (or hcoop2, etc).

  3. Add a comment
  4. Press C-c C-c to close the entry.

  5. Save and exit.

3. Building a package

First, make sure you are on the "master" branch by running:

git branch -l

If you see an asterisk by "master", you're on the right branch.

If we want to build the package with some uncommitted changes, as a sanity check, then do:

git-buildpackage --git-ignore-new

When it comes time to test the changes, build the package using:

git-buildpackage

The packages will be built and placed in the parent directory. To indicate that we are done making changes to this particular version of the Debian package, tag it with:

git-buildpackage --git-tag

This makes the package version show up when you do git tag -l, for easy diffing and viewing.

4. New package from Debian

When a new Debian package comes out, and we want to incorporate their changes, the routine will be as follows.

cd ..
dget -x <URL to dsc file on packages.debian.org>
cd <pkgname>
git checkout debian
cd ../<pkgname>-<ver>
GIT_DIR=../<pkgname>/.git git add .
GIT_DIR=../<pkgname>/.git git add -u .
GIT_DIR=../<pkgname>/.git git commit -m "Import Debian package <ver>-<patch>"
cd ../<pkgname>
rm -fr ../<pkgname>-<ver>
git clean -d && git reset --hard
git tag -a -m "Debian release <ver>-<patch>" debian/<ver>-<patch>

OK, let's stop to take a breather. Here's what the effect of all of this stuff has been.

Now we'll want to switch back to the master branch (where we keep HCoop-specific changes) and merge the latest Debian changes.

git checkout master
git merge debian
[fix any conflicts, particularly in debian/changelog]
git commit

Now, make a new debian/changelog entry and list the changes that were kept in our version. When done, commit, build packages, and tag the version of the package as in the Building a Package section.

5. New upstream version not yet in Debian

If you want to update an existing custom HCoop Debian package with a new version of the upstream program, and no Debian package yet exists for that version, then you'll need to work with the upstream tarball for the new release directly. Instructions are as follows.

When Debian catches up to our blazing pace and makes their own package, perhaps with changes that we want, then we will need to use some trickery to make the packages sync up.