The Northwestern MS Robotics Personal Package Archive

1. Launchpad Keys
2. Ubuntu GPG Guide
3. Archlinux GPG Wiki

1. Make sure the pgp keys are setup on the system you are building the package on.
2. Install the devscripts package

3. Create /etc/apt/sources.list.d/ubuntu-src.sources to let =apt know where to get source packages from.

   Types: deb-src
   URIs: http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/
   Suites: noble noble-updates noble-backports
   Components: main universe restricted multiverse
   Signed-By: /usr/share/keyrings/ubuntu-archive-keyring.gpg
   

4. sudo apt update
5. apt build-dep <packagename> installs the build dependencies
6. Create a working directory <workdir> and cd <workdir>.
7. apt source <packagename> downloads the source package to <workdir>.
8. The debian build process likes to spew and refer to files in the parent directory.
   • To help with this it makes sense to copy the workdir when issuing a new debuild command.
9. The package download should have created a directory with the upstream package name and version <package>. Enter this directory
10. Most debian packages use the Quilt patch management system to manage patches
    • Use quilt push -a to make sure the package is up-to-date
    • You can also track things as patches using quilt if you would like:
      • quilt new patchname.patch creates a new patch
      • quilt add filename adds a file to the patchset. This must be done prior to editing the file
      • When done editing use quilt refresh to apply the patch.
11. Edit debian/changelog, adding a new entry for yourself outlining the changes you made
    • Be sure to boost the version number in the changelog.
    • If you have just made changing to the packaging, change the debian version (the part after the -)
    • Appending a ~<N> makes the package be considered less new than the version without the ~<N> appended.
    • Name and email address should likely be consistent with the pgp key you use to sign the ppa.
    • These packages are very finicky about the version naming scheme, and various items have different semantic meanings. For my purpose, incrementing the revision number seems to work best.
12. The debian/control has information about package dependencies
13. When ready to build run debuild -k<your-pgp-key-id> -b (from a new <workspace> directory)
    • You may wish to install and test the package.
    • The key id is listed on the ppa homepage (e.g., https://launchpad.net/~numsr for NU MSR's ppa) under OpenPGP keys
14. When ready to upload to the ppa run: debuild -k<your-pgp-key-id> -S -sa
15. If the source built successfully upload the packages using dput ppa:<username>/<ppaname> <package_name>.changes (according to the instructions on the ppa page).
16. Refresh your ppa homepage. It may take a little while. If the build failed, you will get an email with some diagnostic information.
17. There is no need to keep track of your changes in git: once uploaded to launchpad you can see the source and your changes to it by downloading the source package.
    • Essentially, your changes are being tracked in launchpad. This is fine for changes to the packaging itself, but if you are changing source code you likely want to make the changes in a fork or even submit them to the upstream project.

Building A Source Package Quilt Manpage Man page for dpkg-source