4 ms·

Packaging tutorial shouldn't be technical details how deb package works but how you build one (if you want those details you can also find them in Debian docume

Packaging tutorial shouldn't be technical details how deb package works but how you build one (if you want those details you can also find them in Debian documentation but in the end deb package is just an ar file with it's set of make file that satisfies the installation in specific distro - this is the simple explanation). And no, the tutorial is misleading because Debian packaging means doing it for Debian, while creating a deb package for your personal need is different. You also have Ubuntu packaging guides and so on.

regularfry 11y ago
But the guides aren't just how you build a package. They're how you package something for official distribution. The requirements for the former aren't nearly as stringent as for the latter, and by obscuring the former behind the latter, Debian makes its packaging guides less useful.
- zlatan_todoric 11y ago
  Debian packaging guides are less useful because they concentrate on how to build package for Debian? And nobody is hiding from you any tutorial - Debian is an open community and the wiki is open to everyone so you can search for what you need but I really don't see the point in your sentences (are you saying that we should favorite somehow quick and dirty hacks instead of our strict high-quality ways of building packages? Because if yes, then Debian wouldn't be what it is today...)
  - regularfry 11y ago
    Yes, that's exactly correct. Debian's tutorials are less generally useful because, to serve the specific goal of keeping Debian's packages high quality, they obscure what you can do behind what Debian thinks you should.
    - zlatan_todoric 11y ago
      First of all (repeating myself again): there is a lot of documentation out there (already mentioned multiple times in this thread) how you can build debs quickly. Also, Debian tutorials are Debian tutorials and they should serve Debian primarily and not some third-party, but still you have all documentation on Debian wiki (and also manpages of specific packages) - you just need to do a bit of search. Second: saying that Debian's tutorials are less useful because they have specific goal of high quality - makes me really sad. Debian is community and not corporation, so to see that community has higher standard then any corporation should be praised. Also Debian's packaging evolved over 20+ years by thousands of hackers (experts in their field) all over world in their unique collaboration. I am sure this should be taken as a pride that you can go on net an read such tutorials. And really, if someone thinks he is technical but can't read few pages of not so demanding tutorial, then problem is in them because in software world you evolve every day and need to read and code a lot to keep a pace. Only problem that you could say is that maybe isn't that fun to read (because Debian wikis are old school so the sentences stretch through entire screen while today's web is focused on centering all which makes it a bit easy to read and so on).

regularfry 11y ago

But the guides aren't just how you build a package. They're how you package something for official distribution. The requirements for the former aren't nearly as stringent as for the latter, and by obscuring the former behind the latter, Debian makes its packaging guides less useful.

zlatan_todoric 11y ago
Debian packaging guides are less useful because they concentrate on how to build package for Debian? And nobody is hiding from you any tutorial - Debian is an open community and the wiki is open to everyone so you can search for what you need but I really don't see the point in your sentences (are you saying that we should favorite somehow quick and dirty hacks instead of our strict high-quality ways of building packages? Because if yes, then Debian wouldn't be what it is today...)
- regularfry 11y ago
  Yes, that's exactly correct. Debian's tutorials are less generally useful because, to serve the specific goal of keeping Debian's packages high quality, they obscure what you can do behind what Debian thinks you should.
  - zlatan_todoric 11y ago
    First of all (repeating myself again): there is a lot of documentation out there (already mentioned multiple times in this thread) how you can build debs quickly. Also, Debian tutorials are Debian tutorials and they should serve Debian primarily and not some third-party, but still you have all documentation on Debian wiki (and also manpages of specific packages) - you just need to do a bit of search. Second: saying that Debian's tutorials are less useful because they have specific goal of high quality - makes me really sad. Debian is community and not corporation, so to see that community has higher standard then any corporation should be praised. Also Debian's packaging evolved over 20+ years by thousands of hackers (experts in their field) all over world in their unique collaboration. I am sure this should be taken as a pride that you can go on net an read such tutorials. And really, if someone thinks he is technical but can't read few pages of not so demanding tutorial, then problem is in them because in software world you evolve every day and need to read and code a lot to keep a pace. Only problem that you could say is that maybe isn't that fun to read (because Debian wikis are old school so the sentences stretch through entire screen while today's web is focused on centering all which makes it a bit easy to read and so on).