[PLUG] Debian buster newbie: recompiling libgd for freetype support

[Russell Senior]

I don't usually rebuild debian packages, so this is just the result of
random DDG'ing and seems authoritative for something close to what you
are asking:

  https://www.debian.org/doc/manuals/maint-guide/build.en.html

On Fri, Jun 4, 2021 at 3:40 PM Keith Lofstrom <keithl at kl-ic.com> wrote:
>
> I'm attempting to add freetype support to libgd for debian
> buster.  What's the best way to replace or add a recompiled
> library in debian?  I can figure out the specifics, but I
> do not yet understand "The Debian Way".
>
> ----
>
> I've used the Scientific Linux variant of RedHat/CentOS
> Long Term Support for many years, but now both are going
> away.  All that is going away due to BHMR (Butt Headed
> Management Reversals), so I am attempting a transition to
> Debian Buster, rebuilding shell scripts, and recompiling
> many C language point tools I've built over the decades.
>
> I've built hundreds of "engineering animations" using libgd
> to make png frames, then combined them into flash animations
> and displayed those with firefox.  I labelled the animations
> with truetype fonts.
>
> All that Just Worked, mostly because many in the Scientific
> Linux community did the same things.  And now it Doesn't
> Just Work.  The SL community is scattering to the winds ...
> some to $$$ Enterprise, some to Alma Linux, some to Debian,
> and a few (including some small engineering businesses
> disturbingly like mine) to involuntary shutdown.
>
> SL supported international collaborations that perform big
> experiments at the Large Hadron Collider and LIGO and on
> ISS, so this may impact science productivity for years -
> and my productivity for many months.
>
> ----
>
> The good news is that I have learned how to make animated
> PNGs with "apngasm", and that works better than SWF.
> That also simplifies the web pages in which I imbed the
> animations, so this part of the transition is going well.
>
> But I'm tearing my hair out trying to understand and work
> with all the variations of libgd.  The builtin fonts for
> libgd look like 1980's video game crap.  I've added the
> packages for truetype fonts, but libgd doesn't find them.
>
> Stock debian buster libgd (2.2.5-5.2) complains "libgd
> was not built with freetype font support" ... /if/ I add
> the package that converts return codes into error strings.
> "bullseye" and "sid" use libgd 2.3.0-2 ... also not built
> with freetype font support.  That version of libgd also
> seems to be called libgd3, which is confusing.
>
> It seems like the best way forwards is to recompile libgd
> with freetype font support enabled, then replace the
> system's libgd library ... but I don't know the right way
> to do that, and my clumsy efforts could break other tools
> and screw up updates and upgrades.
>
> So ... how do Debian Cool Kids recompile and upgrade
> commonly used system libraries like libgd?
>
> Keith
>
> --
> Keith Lofstrom          keithl at keithl.com