pkgwrite - Make RedHat and Debian packages from the same source.
pkgwrite (--tarball=TARBALL | --srcdir=SRCDIR) \
[--pkgwriteinfo-file=pkgwriteinfo] \
--arch=ARCH \
--format={redhat,debian}
[options]
pkgwrite --query-list=LISTNAME
pkgwrite takes a standard automake package, either from a source directory
or from a distributed tarball, and a pkgwrite input file and makes either RedHat or Debian packages.
The actual package source code must be specified either by directory (using --srcdir) or from a tarball created with `make dist' (using --tarball).
Additional packaging information is taken from pkgwriteinfo. If --pkgwriteinfo-file is omitted, pkgwriteinfo from the source directory or tarball is taken instead. (after configure is run, so you might generally use a pkgwriteinfo.in).
There are a few command-line parameters which affect the package-making:
Don't force the user's changelog and pkgwriteinfo file to have the same version. (If the packaging system requires that the changelog's latest entry be equal to the package's version, then pkgwrite will generate a changelog entry. This happens under Debian.)
Don't remove the temporary directory (which will be /tmp/mkpkg-###-$USER). Useful for debugging.
Generate packaging for the given debian distribution: this mostly affects
the changelog so setting DIST to stable or unstable is recommended.
Disable the usual checks that the package is valid. The package may still partially work, even if a sanity-check would normally fail.
A family of packages for various distributions which all come from one tarball and one pkgwriteinfo file.
A compilation of the source code into binaries. Some packages require
multiple builds, for example, to make debugging and nondebugging versions
of a libraries. Generally you just use the {MAIN} build.
A single set of installed files in a package. Simple packages only have a
single target {MAIN}
because the package is an all-or-nothing proposition.
Some packages contain many parts, not all applicable to all users. These packages should be broken in to different targets.
For example, a client/server based application might be conveniently
packaged foo-server, foo-client-curses, foo-client-gtk. That way, users without X can use the curses version without installing
gtk+, often the clients and servers are run exclusively on different
machines, so installing both is a waste of disk space.
Another important note is that if you derive from a Build other than {MAIN}, then your target's name will include the build name.
If it you use Target: {MAIN}, the resulting system package will be named: PACKAGE-BUILD Otherwise, for Target: *, you'll get: PACKAGE-BUILD-*
We recommend that you maintain a changelog in debian format, here is an example: gdam (0.934-1) unstable; urgency=low
* many bug fixes * split into many packages
-- David Benson <daveb@ffem.org> Wed, 17 Jan 2000 13:09:36 -0800
(No spaces for each version banner; 2 spaces on each bullet; 1 space before the packager byline.)
If you don't maintain a changelog, we will generate a changelog with just this version of the package in it.
You should specify the changelog using the Changelog: directive.
Here are a few examples of common types of packages. The pkgwrite
distribution includes these packages inside the examples/tiny directory.
The most common type of package has one set of files it installs or uninstalls: there are no packaged bits or pieces. (A Target in pkgwrite terminology is the installed set of files.)
Here is the pkgwrite file from the single-target example included with the pkgwrite distribution:
Package: aa Section: text Group: Applications/Text Priority: low Home-Page: NONE Source-Url: NONE Author: David Benson <daveb@ffem.org> Version: 0.0.2 Release: 1 Synopsis: test package aa Packager: daveb Packager-Email: daveb@ffem.org License: NONE Description: test package (aa).
Build: {MAIN}
Target: {MAIN}
Files: /usr/bin/dummy-*
Synopsis: test a (single-target package)
This package's name is aa; this file will produce a binary RPM named aa-0.0-1.$ARCH.rpm.
we wanted to name this a, but debian packages must be at least two letters.
$ARCH is the target architecture, for example
i386, alpha, or powerpc.
The Target {MAIN} is special, it means ``don't use any suffix'' -- the package's name is to
be aa. For any other Target line, if STRING was specified, the resulting RPM or
deb would have the name aa-STRING.
Each wildcard from Files lines describe a file or files to move into that target.
Unlisted files will not wind up in any binary package.
A multi-target, single-build package is a package that need only be compiled once, but which must be separated into several system packages, because the targets appeal to different users or have different dependencies.
Here is the pkgwriteinfo file from the example multi-target single-build package:
Package: bb Section: text Group: Applications/Text Priority: low Home-Page: NONE Source-Url: NONE Author: David Benson <daveb@ffem.org> Version: 0.0 Release: 1 Synopsis: test package bb Packager: daveb Packager-Email: daveb@ffem.org License: NONE Description: test package (bb).
Build: {MAIN}
Target: a Files: /usr/bin/bb-a Synopsis: part a of package bb Description: whatever (bb-a)
Target: b Files: /usr/bin/bb-b Synopsis: part b of package bb Description: whatever (bb-b)
In this package, only a single default Build: is required. Some packages
may require the Configure-Flags or
Configure-Envars fields in order to compile correctly.
By default, all the targets use the {MAIN} Build.
Then each package contains a default file list, a description and a synopsis.
The most complex type of package must be built multiple times, with
different configure or make flags. Each target must then refer to the build
from which it was produced, using the Which-Build field (the default is {MAIN}).
Here is the example of such a package from the pkgwrite
distribution:
Package: cc Section: text Group: Applications/Text Priority: low Home-Page: NONE Source-Url: NONE Author: David Benson <daveb@ffem.org> Version: 0.0 Release: 1 Synopsis: test package cc Packager: daveb Packager-Email: daveb@ffem.org License: NONE Description: test package (cc).
Build: nond Configure-Flags: --program-suffix=-nondebug
Build: d Configure-Flags: --program-suffix=-debug
Target: nondebug Which-Build: nond Files: /usr/bin/test-nondebug Synopsis: nondebug package cc Description: whatever (cc-nondebug)
Target: debug Which-Build: d Files: /usr/bin/test-debug Synopsis: debug package cc Description: whatever (cc-debug)
Each Build section corresponds to a complete configure, build, install
phase. In this package, the nond build just wants configure to be run configure --program-suffix=-nondebug
... whereas for the d build, configure --program-suffix=-debug ... (Note that the ... will be
somewhat different from distribution to distribution)
Also, it is often convenient to use the same names for the builds and the
targets. We would rename nond as nondebug and d as debug
if this were a real package -- we did this to discuss it more conveniently.
It is perfectly possible to have more than one Target pointing to the same Build, just as multi-target single-build packages do. But the opposite is not allowed: a Target must specify exactly one Build.
Many lists and values are hardcoded into pkgwrite. You may query these lists through the --query-list flag. Here are the lists you may obtain in this manner:
Known allowed Section: fields for debian packages.
Known allowed Group: fields for redhat packages.
Known allowed Priority: fields for debian packages.
For example to get a list of allowed values for the Section: field, use pkgwrite --query-list=deb-sections.
This (long) section describes the file that describes the targets to build
from a tarball. This description file is called a pkgwriteinfo file.
The pkgwriteinfo file consists of one package description part, then a number of Build
sections, then a number of Target sections.
The package file should begin with a section that describes the overall source code of the package:
Package: gdam Section: sound Group: Multimedia/Sound Priority: optional Home-Page: http://ffem.org/gdam Source-Url: http://ffem.org/gdam/downloads/gdam-0.0.930.tar.gz Version: 0.0.930 Release: 1 Author: David Benson <daveb@ffem.org>
Here is a description of each allowed field:
Name of the source package.
The version number given to this version of the package by its maintainer.
Increment this each time a new package is released without a corresponding upstream version-number change.
The debian section this package belongs in.
The redhat group this package belongs in.
Priority of this package (debian-style).
A URL giving the home page for this package or project.
A URL describing how to download this package.
An author of this package, with email optional.
Under one line summary of this target.
Multiple-line description of this target.
Full name of the person who made this packaging.
Email address at which to reach the packager.
Specify the location of a Debian format changelog to include with the package (it will be converted to another standard format, if needed)
For each output binary package there must be a ``target'' section:
Target: xmms-plugins Depends: gdam-clients-gtk, gdam-server, xmms Synopsis: GDAM XMMS plugin support Description: use XMMS visualization plugins with GDAM. Files: /usr/bin/gdamxmmsvishelper
Name of this target. The name of the package that results will be prepended
with SOURCE-; in this example the package's name is gdam-xmms-plugins.
Set this to yes if this package will be installable on any architecture (it contains no
system-specific or compiled code).
Set this to no for packages containing compiled, architecture-specific binaries.
Debian-formatted dependency lists for this package.
Specify the redhat packages that this one depends on. (We will try to compute this from the Depends: lines by default; this is just in case we cannot guess correctly.)
Debian-formatted list of packages that conflict with this one.
Redhat-formatted list of packages that conflict with this one. Computed from Conflicts: by default.
Under one line summary of this target.
The basename of a man page, for example pkgwrite.1. It will automatically be installed into the correct section directory
based on its extension.
Miscellaneous documentation. Each path is assumed to be inside the installed area.
It will be always be copied into the distribution's documentation area, and it will be gzip'd if that is needed. Also, whole directories will be recursively copied, if the entry ends with a /, for example,
Doc: /usr/share/doc/gdam/example-configs/
Miscellaneous documentation that is not normally installed by this package's makefile:
These must be files directly from the distributed tarball. They will be always be copied into the distribution's documentation area and will be gzip'd if that is needed. Whole directories will be recursively copied, if the entry ends with a /.
Multiple-line description of this target.
Name of the build whose files should be used. (Defaults to {MAIN}).
A wildcard matching ordinary files to be distributed with this target.
The name of this build. The default build should be named
{MAIN}.
Options to be passed to the configure script.
Space-separated environment variables to add when configuring.
Extra parameters to the make program during both the build and the install phase.
Extra parameters to the make program during just the build phase.
Extra parameters to the make program during just the install phase.
Written by Dave Benson <daveb@ffem.org>