4. Packaging New Software¶
While there are thousands of packages in the Ubuntu archive, there are still a lot nobody has gotten to yet. If there is an exciting new piece of software that you feel needs wider exposure, maybe you want to try your hand at creating a package for Ubuntu or a PPA. This guide will take you through the steps of packaging new software.
You will want to read the Getting Set Up article first in order to prepare your development environment.
4.1. Checking the Program¶
The first stage in packaging is to get the released tar from upstream (we call the authors of applications “upstream”) and check that it compiles and runs.
This guide will take you through packaging a simple application called GNU Hello which has been posted on GNU.org.
Download GNU Hello:
$ wget -O hello-2.10.tar.gz "http://ftp.gnu.org/gnu/hello/hello-2.10.tar.gz"
Now uncompress it:
$ tar xf hello-2.10.tar.gz
$ cd hello-2.10
This application uses the autoconf build system so we want to run ./configure
to prepare for compilation.
This will check for the required build dependencies. As hello is a simple
example, build-essential should provide everything we need. For more
complex programs, the command will fail if you do not have the needed libraries
and development files. Install the needed packages and repeat until the command
runs successfully.:
$ ./configure
Now you can compile the source:
$ make
If compilation completes successfully you can install and run the program:
$ sudo make install
$ hello
4.2. Starting a Package¶
bzr-builddeb includes a plugin to create a new package from a template. The
plugin is a wrapper around the dh_make command. Run the command providing
the package name, version number, and path to the upstream tarball:
$ sudo apt-get install dh-make bzr-builddeb
$ cd ..
$ bzr dh-make hello 2.10 hello-2.10.tar.gz
When it asks what type of package type s for single binary. This will import
the code into a branch and add the debian/ packaging directory. Have a look
at the contents. Most of the files it adds are only needed for specialist
packages (such as Emacs modules) so you can start by removing the optional
example files:
$ cd hello/debian
$ rm *ex *EX
You should now customise each of the files.
In debian/changelog change the
version number to an Ubuntu version: 2.10-0ubuntu1 (upstream version 2.10,
Debian version 0, Ubuntu version 1). Also change unstable to the current
development Ubuntu release such as trusty.
Much of the package building work is done by a series of scripts
called debhelper. The exact behaviour of debhelper changes
with new major versions, the compat file instructs debhelper which
version to act as. You will generally want to set this to the most
recent version which is 9.
control contains all the metadata of the package. The first paragraph
describes the source package. The second and following paragraphs describe
the binary packages to be built. We will need to add the packages needed to
compile the application to Build-Depends:. For hello, make sure that it
includes at least:
Build-Depends: debhelper (>= 9)
You will also need to fill in a description of the program in the
Description: field.
copyright needs to be filled in to follow the licence of the upstream
source. According to the hello/COPYING file this is GNU GPL 3 or later.
docs contains any upstream documentation files you think should be included
in the final package.
README.source and README.Debian are only needed if your package has any
non-standard features, we don’t so you can delete them.
source/format can be left as is, this describes the version format of the
source package and should be 3.0 (quilt).
rules is the most complex file. This is a Makefile which compiles the
code and turns it into a binary package. Fortunately most of the work is
automatically done these days by debhelper 7 so the universal %
Makefile target just runs the dh script which will run everything needed.
All of these file are explained in more detail in the overview of the debian directory article.
Finally commit the code to your packaging branch:
$ bzr add debian/source/format
$ bzr commit -m "Initial commit of Debian packaging."
4.3. Building the package¶
Now we need to check that our packaging successfully compiles the package and builds the .deb binary package:
$ bzr builddeb -- -us -uc
$ cd ../../
bzr builddeb is a command to build the package in its current location.
The -us -uc tell it there is no need to GPG sign the package. The result
will be placed in ...
You can view the contents of the package with:
$ lesspipe hello_2.10-0ubuntu1_amd64.deb
Install the package and check it works (later you will be able to uninstall it
using sudo apt-get remove hello if you want):
$ sudo dpkg --install hello_2.10-0ubuntu1_amd64.deb
You can also install all packages at once using:
$ sudo debi
4.4. Next Steps¶
Even if it builds the .deb binary package, your packaging may have
bugs. Many errors can be automatically detected by our tool
lintian which can be run on the source .dsc metadata file, .deb
binary packages or .changes file:
$ lintian hello_2.10-0ubuntu1.dsc
$ lintian hello_2.10-0ubuntu1_amd64.deb
To see verbose description of the problems use --info lintian flag
or lintian-info command.
For Python packages, there is also a lintian4python tool that provides
some additional lintian checks.
After making a fix to the packaging you can rebuild using -nc “no clean”
without having to build from scratch:
$ bzr builddeb -- -nc -us -uc
Having checked that the package builds locally you should ensure it builds on a
clean system using pbuilder. Since we are going to upload to a PPA
(Personal Package Archive) shortly, this upload will need to be signed to
allow Launchpad to verify that the upload comes from you (you can tell the
upload will be signed because the -us and -uc flags are not passed to
bzr builddeb like they were before). For signing to work you need to have
set up GPG. If you haven’t set up pbuilder-dist or GPG yet, do so
now:
$ bzr builddeb -S
$ cd ../build-area
$ pbuilder-dist trusty build hello_2.10-0ubuntu1.dsc
When you are happy with your package you will want others to review it. You can upload the branch to Launchpad for review:
$ bzr push lp:~<lp-username>/+junk/hello-package
Uploading it to a PPA will ensure it builds and give an easy way for you and
others to test the binary packages. You will need to set up a PPA in Launchpad
and then upload with dput:
$ dput ppa:<lp-username>/<ppa-name> hello_2.10-0ubuntu1.changes
You can ask for reviews in #ubuntu-motu IRC channel, or on the
MOTU mailing list. There might also be a more specific
team you could ask such as the GNU team for more specific questions.
4.5. Submitting for inclusion¶
There are a number of paths that a package can take to enter Ubuntu. In most cases, going through Debian first can be the best path. This way ensures that your package will reach the largest number of users as it will be available in not just Debian and Ubuntu but all of their derivatives as well. Here are some useful links for submitting new packages to Debian:
Debian Mentors FAQ - debian-mentors is for the mentoring of new and prospective Debian Developers. It is where you can find a sponsor to upload your package to the archive.
Work-Needing and Prospective Packages - Information on how to file “Intent to Package” and “Request for Package” bugs as well as list of open ITPs and RFPs.
Debian Developer’s Reference, 5.1. New packages - The entire document is invaluable for both Ubuntu and Debian packagers. This section documents processes for submitting new packages.
In some cases, it might make sense to go directly into Ubuntu first. For instance, Debian might be in a freeze making it unlikely that your package will make it into Ubuntu in time for the next release. This process is documented on the “New Packages” section of the Ubuntu wiki.
4.6. Screenshots¶
Once you have uploaded a package to debian, you should add screenshots to allow propective users to see what the program is like. These should be uploaded to http://screenshots.debian.net/upload .