Ubuntu
dpkg package

Problems with creating a deb and using dput

Asked by ChrisOfBristol on 2017-05-20

I have put a new application on Launchpad, have set most things up and loaded the code into Bazaar. I’m now at the stage where I think I need to:
-create a source deb file
-upload that into a PPA on LP with “dput ppa:{username}/{projectname} <source.changes>”

Debian makes a distinction between “source” and “binary” files, but my application is just a couple of Python programs, so I don’t think this can be relevant.

I have created a deb with Debreate, but I’ve no ideas what <source.changes> is, although Debreate has created “changelog.gz”.

I’ve also tried to create a deb with debuild -S -sa, but that errors with “cannot find readable debian/changelog anywhere!”

I find Debian documentation totally mystifying, each topic I read leads me to more questions to answer, or back to a previous page...

Can you help, or recommend a clearly explained guide please?

Question information

Language:: Russian (Russian Federation) Edit question

Status:: Answered

For:: Ubuntu dpkg Edit question

Assignee:: No assignee Edit question

Last query:: 2017-05-20

Last reply:: 2017-05-23

Link existing bug

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Manfred Hampl (m-hampl) said on 2017-05-20:

Try http://packaging.ubuntu.com/html/ and some of the links in its "Further Reading".

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ChrisOfBristol (chrisofbristol-deactivatedaccount) said on 2017-05-21:

Thanks Manfred, this looks interesting.

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ChrisOfBristol (chrisofbristol-deactivatedaccount) said on 2017-05-22:

Not a promising start I'm afraid, I have installed bzr, but one of the commands recommended on this webpage http://packaging.ubuntu.com/html/udd-uploading.html doesn't even exist!

$ bzr builddeb -S
bzr: ERROR: unknown command "builddeb"

$ bzr --help
Bazaar 2.8.0dev1 -- a free distributed version-control tool
http://bazaar.canonical.com/

Basic commands:
bzr init makes this directory a versioned branch
bzr branch make a copy of another branch

  bzr add make files or directories versioned
  bzr ignore ignore a file or pattern
  bzr mv move or rename a versioned file

bzr status summarise changes in working copy
bzr diff show detailed diffs

  bzr merge pull in changes from another branch
  bzr commit save some or all changes
  bzr send send changes via e-mail

bzr log show history of changes
bzr check validate storage

  bzr help init more help on e.g. init command
  bzr help commands list all commands
  bzr help topics list all help topics
$

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Manfred Hampl (m-hampl) said on 2017-05-23:

Install the bzr-builddeb package and try again.

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ChrisOfBristol (chrisofbristol-deactivatedaccount) said on 2017-05-23:

Ah! Assumed it was supposed to be part of bzr, have installed and will try again...

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ChrisOfBristol (chrisofbristol-deactivatedaccount) said on 2017-05-23:

$ bzr builddeb -S
Building using working tree
bzr: ERROR: Could not find changelog at {project}/debian/changelog in tree.
How can there be a changelog for a first attempt? Looks like I'll have to plough through some more documentation.

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Manfred Hampl (m-hampl) said on 2017-05-23:

Even for a new package you need a changelog.
Its contents usually are just something like "New package"

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ChrisOfBristol (chrisofbristol-deactivatedaccount) said on 2017-05-23:

I've extracted the changelog file that I created with Debreate and that has got bzr-builddeb working a bit. I've done the same for all the files that Debreate created and now seem to be missing a "rules" file. Will have to research that as Debreate hasn't created one.

Building using working tree
Building package in normal mode
Looking for a way to retrieve the upstream tarball
No debian/rules file to use to retrieve upstream tarball.
Using uscan to look for the upstream tarball.
No watch file to use to retrieve upstream tarball.
bzr: ERROR: Unable to find the needed upstream tarball for package *****, version *.*.*.