Here is a recipie to build a set of 2.6.1 packages for debian lenny based on the packaging ari has done for sid (but not uploaded yet hence the download from svn.debian.org).
wget http://sourceforge.net/projects/pidgin/files/Pidgin/pidgin-2.6.1.tar.bz2 [sourceforge.net]
bunzip2 pidgin-2.6.1.tar.bz2
tar -xf pidgin-2.6.1.tar
gzip pidgin-2.6.1.tar
mv pidgin-2.6.1.tar.gz pidgin_2.6.1.orig.tar.gz
cd pidgin-2.6.1
svn export -r 14052 svn://svn.debian.org/svn/collab-maint/deb-maint/pidgin/trunk/debian
sed -i s/tcl8.6-dev/tcl8.5-dev/ debian/control
sed -i s/tk8.6-dev/tk8.5-dev/ debian/control
sed -i 's/libgstfarsight0.10-dev (>= 0.0.9),//' debian/control
sed -i 's/(>= 0.4.53)//' debian/control
sed -i 's/(>= 1.1.1)//' debian/control
sed -i 's/--enable-vv/--disable-vv/' debian/rules
dpkg-buildpackage
if it complains about missing build-depends install them and run dpkg-buildpackage again
note: I had to disable video/voice because libgstfarsight is not available in lenny.
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pidgn 2.6.x on lenny
Re: pidgn 2.6.1 on lenny
Pidgin 2.6.1 is now in Experimental.
There are a few other changes to what you've mentioned, too. It now depends on tcl-dev and tk-dev, which are dependency packages for tcl8.4-dev and tk8.4-dev. You could always ignore them, because Pidgin will still compile against tcl8.4-dev and tk8.4-dev, but if you want to stop the nagging and don't want to add the -d option to dpkg-buildpackage, then install the new "build dependencies". I also disabled farsight in the debian/rules file as well as vv, and if you don't care about Network Manager, then you can also disable that there (and remove its build depends from the control file). After all that, I have Pidgin 2.6.1 in Lenny, working fine... without video and voice, though, but meh.
Just thought I'd mention the above, in case of issues.
There are a few other changes to what you've mentioned, too. It now depends on tcl-dev and tk-dev, which are dependency packages for tcl8.4-dev and tk8.4-dev. You could always ignore them, because Pidgin will still compile against tcl8.4-dev and tk8.4-dev, but if you want to stop the nagging and don't want to add the -d option to dpkg-buildpackage, then install the new "build dependencies". I also disabled farsight in the debian/rules file as well as vv, and if you don't care about Network Manager, then you can also disable that there (and remove its build depends from the control file). After all that, I have Pidgin 2.6.1 in Lenny, working fine... without video and voice, though, but meh.
Just thought I'd mention the above, in case of issues.
Re: pidgn 2.6.1 on lenny
here is a new recipie for 2.6.2
dget http://ftp.de.debian.org/debian/pool/main/p/pidgin/pidgin_2.6.2-1.dsc
dpkg-source -x pidgin_2.6.2-1.dsc
cd pidgin-2.6.2
sed -i s/tcl-dev/tcl8.5-dev/ debian/control
sed -i s/tk-dev/tk8.5-dev/ debian/control
sed -i 's/libgstfarsight0.10-dev (>= 0.0.9),//' debian/control
sed -i 's/(>= 0.4.53)//' debian/control
sed -i 's/(>= 1.1.1)//' debian/control
sed -i 's/--enable-vv/--disable-vv/' debian/rules
dpkg-buildpackage
edit: added a missing cd command and disabled url parsing by the forum so the commands could be read correctly
dget http://ftp.de.debian.org/debian/pool/main/p/pidgin/pidgin_2.6.2-1.dsc
dpkg-source -x pidgin_2.6.2-1.dsc
cd pidgin-2.6.2
sed -i s/tcl-dev/tcl8.5-dev/ debian/control
sed -i s/tk-dev/tk8.5-dev/ debian/control
sed -i 's/libgstfarsight0.10-dev (>= 0.0.9),//' debian/control
sed -i 's/(>= 0.4.53)//' debian/control
sed -i 's/(>= 1.1.1)//' debian/control
sed -i 's/--enable-vv/--disable-vv/' debian/rules
dpkg-buildpackage
edit: added a missing cd command and disabled url parsing by the forum so the commands could be read correctly
Re: pidgn 2.6.x on lenny
and here is one for 2.6.4
dget http://ftp.de.debian.org/debian/pool/ma ... .6.4-1.dsc
cd pidgin-2.6.4/
sed -i s/tcl-dev/tcl8.5-dev/ debian/control
sed -i s/tk-dev/tk8.5-dev/ debian/control
sed -i 's/libgstfarsight0.10-dev (>= 0.0.9),//' debian/control
sed -i 's/(>= 0.4.53)//' debian/control
sed -i 's/(>= 1.1.1)//' debian/control
dpkg-buildpackage
if it complains about missing build-depends install them and run dpkg-buildpackage again
dget http://ftp.de.debian.org/debian/pool/ma ... .6.4-1.dsc
cd pidgin-2.6.4/
sed -i s/tcl-dev/tcl8.5-dev/ debian/control
sed -i s/tk-dev/tk8.5-dev/ debian/control
sed -i 's/libgstfarsight0.10-dev (>= 0.0.9),//' debian/control
sed -i 's/(>= 0.4.53)//' debian/control
sed -i 's/(>= 1.1.1)//' debian/control
dpkg-buildpackage
if it complains about missing build-depends install them and run dpkg-buildpackage again