HowTo for creating/updating APT archives?

[Rich_Morin]

I've been using Unix for decades, but I'm quite new to Debian and APT. I'd like to find a HowTo for creating/updating APT archives. I've Googled around a bit, but can't find anything very helpful. Suggestions?

-r

[CwF]

Maybe install dpkg-dev and look at dpkg-scanpackages. Useful for creating a complete offline repository or freezing working obsolescence for future use...if either is your goal?

[Rich_Morin]

Maybe install dpkg-dev and look at dpkg-scanpackages. Useful for creating a complete offline repository or freezing working obsolescence for future use...if either is your goal?

I'll check into that, thanks! By way of background, there are a couple dozen packages I'd like to install that have either outdated archives or none at all. I'd like to try my hand at creating/updating archives for some of them.

-r

[stevepusser]

You can build packages and host them in a repository on the free openSUSE Build Service. I wrote a guide how to get started with it a couple years ago which is in the HOW TO section here, though you should first be familiar with building packages on your own machine before you graduate to the OBS, plus they changed the web interface theme recently.

For example, here's a repo I maintain for the Pale Moon browser and some related packages for Debian and Ubuntu: https://build.opensuse.org/project/show ... evenpusser

Shoot, Sid updated something that broke the Pale Moon build--maybe gcc. Let me take a look at it...yeah, the default gcc in Sid is now 9.2, and PM is only compatible with up to gcc-8. Luckily, gcc-8 is still in Sid, and I know how to get the build system to use it on Sid instead of gcc-9. I'll do that for the next PM release, since the repo will still provide the last successful build it did for Sid before the gcc transition.

[Rich_Morin]

You can build packages and host them in a repository on the free openSUSE Build Service. I wrote a guide how to get started with it a couple years ago which is in the HOW TO section here, though you should first be familiar with building packages on your own machine before you graduate to the OBS, plus they changed the web interface theme recently.

The Build Service looks like a really sweet way to support collaborative development. I'm hoping that I don't need to be too concerned about their note that says "Before you start using OBS, you'll probably want to learn the basics of RPM packaging." After all, I'm mostly building for Debian and such, not RHEL, et al.

In other news, I can't find your HowTo. Could you please the exact name (or better, provide a link)?

-r

[stevepusser]

Wow, it's nearly three years old: http://forums.debian.net/viewtopic.php?f=16&t=130057

You don't have to know a lick about rpm packages if you stick to Debian or its derivatives. You can also add armv71 (armhf) or aarch64 (arm64) builds if you want for Stretch and Buster-the Debian repos use the Debian architecture names. Adding the Raspian repos just builds armhf packages for the Pi.

Sometimes there's an odd quirk to the build. I have to add linux-libc-dev as a build-depend for backports of the upstream kernels, for example, or you will get a choice between two possible packages required by a build-depend; in that case, just add the first choice to the build-depends.