> Now if we are concerned about administrators being able to keep all > applications in the dpkg database, so as to insure system integrety, > could not some kind of generic .config script be written that creates > .deb files for non-supported applications.
It's called debhelper, and most developers use it. Creating Debian packages with it is trivial for simple FSF packages such as units. Packaging complex stuff like X and Gnome, on the other hand, is damn near a full time job, and far too complex for any sort of ready-made scripts to be much help. Install debhelper, developers-reference, and dpkg-dev and read up on building packages. It isn't that hard. > Actually I think some sort of wrapper program for creating debs would be > very useful for upgrading applications that are part of debian. Really > why should someone have to wait for a new deb file to be created by a > debian developer if the application itself is actually already available? > Many applications in stable are many many versions behind. Why would packaging it yourself be better than getting the Debian package from unstable? > The fact that we are over a year between releases suggests that original > package maintainer-user relationship may not be practical in a world with > thousands and thousands of linux applicaition. I'm not happy with the long release cycle either, but why would someone who can download the source from the upstream site be unable to download the Debian package from unstable? -- John Hasler [EMAIL PROTECTED] Dancing Horse Hill Elmwood, Wisconsin
