[PLUG] Compile from source to .deb or .rpm package?

[Dale Snell]

On Tue, 4 Jun 2013 12:03:17 -0700
John Jason Jordan <johnxj at comcast.net> wrote:

> There is a free open source software on Sourceforge that I would like
> to compile to packages. I assume this can be done, but I need some
> clues where to start.

John,

May I assume (*cough*) from your Subject: line that you want to
convert this package from whatever format it's in to something
that can be installed by either yum/rpm or apt/dpkg?

If so, I have a question for you:  Why?

Okay, I'm not really trying to be snarky (well, maybe a little),
but there's really no need to do that.  Package managers are
persnickety buggers.  For simply installing something you've found
on the 'net, they're probably more trouble than they're worth.

So tell us what you have; that way we can tell you how to build
it.  If it's the usual sort of tarball, with an Autotools-packaged
project inside, it should be easy.  (Assuming [there's that word
again] that you have all the dependencies the program needs.  If
not, you're going to have to track them down and install them
before you can build your new program.)

OTOH, if you really do need to distribute .rpm and/or .deb
packages, I'm sure that the list can help with that, too.
(Optimistic, ain't I?)

I can't help much with rpm (and not at all with dpkg), but you'll
need to read the man page for rpmbuild(8).  At the minimum, you
will also need to install rpmlint and rpmdevtools.

--Dale

--
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