Leon Anavi
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Created: 22.01.2018 00:37 Last Modified: 22.01.2018 02:53 Views: 10813
Keywords: apt-get, compat, control, dch, deb, debian, debuild, dpkg, lintian, linux, package, Raspberry Pi, Raspbian, rules

Building a Deb Package on Raspberry Pi with Debuild

This tutorial provides the exact steps for creating a deb package on Raspberry Pi for a simple application written in the C programming language with autotools. The described procedure has been tested on Raspberry Pi 3 using Raspbian Stretch from November 2017.

  • Install the following tools:
  • sudo apt-get update
    sudo apt-get install devscripts build-essential lintian
    
  • Create a directory for the deb package and enter it:
  • mkdir ~/hellodeb
    cd ~/hellodeb
    
  • Download the source code of the application as an archive and unzip it:
  • wget https://github.com/leon-anavi/hello-world/archive/master.zip
    unzip master.zip
    
  • Rename the directory to a name that matches the format package-version:
  • mv hello-world-master helloworld-0.0.1
    
  • Enter the directory with the source code and create directory debian in it:
  • cd helloworld-0.0.1
    mkdir debian
    
  • Run the following command and follow the on screen instructions to create a changelog:
  • dch -i --create
    
  • In the change log is mandatory to replace PACKAGE with helloworld, VERSION with 0.0.1 UNRELEASED with unstable.
  • Create a copyright file which can be blank but must exists because it is required by lintian:
  • touch debian/copyright
    
  • Define debhelper compatibility level in file debian/compat:
  • echo 10 > debian/compat
    
  • Create file debian/control with the following content:
  • Source: helloworld
    Maintainer: Leon Anavi 
    Build-Depends: debhelper (>= 10.2.5)
    Standards-Version: 3.9.8
    Section: utils
    
    Package: helloworld
    Priority: extra
    Architecture: any
    Depends: ${shlibs:Depends}, ${misc:Depends}
    Description: a simple helloworld package
     Prints "Hello, World" and exit.
    
  • Create file debian/rules with the following content (use TAB instead of spaces):
  • #!/usr/bin/make -f
    
    %:
    	dh $@
    
    override_dh_usrlocal:
    
    override_dh_auto_install:
    	install -D -m 0755 src/hello $$(pwd)/debian/helloworld/usr/local/bin/hello
    
    configure:
    	dh_autoreconf
    	./configure ...
    
    clean:
    	dh_autoreconf_clean
    	dh_clean
    
  • Make the deb package using debuild:
  • debuild -us -uc
    
  • Verify that the deb package has been created successfully in the parent directory and install it for a test with dpkg:
  • cd ..
    sudo dpkg -i helloworld_0.0.1_armhf.deb 
    

    If there are no issues, after installing the package with dpkg, you can run the application. Just type hello as in the example below:

    pi@hassbian:~/hellodeb $ hello
    Hello, World!
    

    This article is specially for an application that uses autotools. If you want to adapt it for a straight-forward Makefile then remove the configure and clean sections from debian/rules. Over the time, with the new releases of Raspbian, some of the steps might change therefore please contact me if you notice room for improvement of the tutorial.



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