[EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: >I want to compile gs on my box because i want to add in new drivers. >However I am having trouble understanding how I can introduce my new c >source code before compiling. There is no obvious source tree (like >for a src-tar.gz). Where do i slot in new code and how can i play with >the code?
'apt-get source gs' or 'apt-get source gs-aladdin', change into the directory that produces, make your changes, then 'dpkg-buildpackage -rfakeroot' (having installed the dpkg-dev and fakeroot packages, plus anything else relevant - especially any Build-Depends: and Build-Depends-Indep: from debian/control). That should spit out a .deb in the parent directory. Oh yeah ... gs-aladdin is one of those annoying packages that has archives within archives that get patched in debian/rules and stuff. Some developers like those because they can be easier for the developer to manage if large numbers of patches are involved. In the case of gs-aladdin, change into the top-level directory of the source tree (the one with 'debian' and 'upstream' subdirectories) and type 'debian/rules configure' to unpack and patch all the archives. Note that there's no general mechanism for dealing with such packages yet; to some extent, you have to figure it out for each package. :( I suppose you could always do a 'debian/rules build' and interrupt it partway through. >How do you compile a deb source (tried dpkg-deb -b to no real results)? That's for taking a filesystem archive (basically, the binary files that make up a .deb, in a specific arrangement) and turning it into a .deb. It's only for people building packages; if you don't know what it does, don't use it. dpkg-buildpackage is one of the standard tools for building packages; see its man page. With -rfakeroot, it ultimately ends up calling something like 'fakeroot debian/rules binary'. There's also a higher-level wrapper in the devscripts package called 'debuild', which may be handier for you. >where is there better documentation?? The man pages for the tools I mentioned above; the Debian Packaging Manual (in the packaging-manual package); the Debian New Maintainers' Guide (in the maint-guide package). The man page for apt-get, under the 'source' option, gives you a hint that dpkg-buildpackage is involved in the process. In the case of the non-standard build system outlined above, sadly, nowhere really. You just have to work it out for yourself, or read the arguments about it in the mailing list archives. :( Cheers, -- Colin Watson [EMAIL PROTECTED]
