Package formats each have their own expectations. RPM likes being pointed to a source tarball, given the steps to build the project, and being given a list of t

Package formats each have their own expectations. RPM likes being pointed to a source tarball, given the steps to build the project, and being given a list of the just-built files to include in the package. Those are the artifacts that RPM will manage (and they can be marked things like "doc", "config", or given specific attributes). Deb is broadly similar, but I feel like the framework is a little less controlled than the RPM one. The manager basically just defines a framework. Packages can abuse that framework in various ways (I haven't even mentioned install triggers, to execute code when other named packages are added or removed). There are a lot of ways to get it wrong, but when the dev builds a good package, it's almost magic how nicely it works.