Creating Binary Packages for Ubuntu

GNUmed is available for Ubuntu Hardy Heron and newer. They are provided through the Launchpad PPA. As always we stand on the shoulders of the Debian giant.

The procedure provided here is basically a re-packaging effort. First one needs to set up a propert environment as described in the Ubuntu packaging guide. I found this YouTube video series helpful.

Provided you have your launchpad account set up including ssh key and GNUmed team membership the steps provided will turn a Debian package into a package for Ubuntu.

I suggest you create a directory named PPA . Then in a cmd shell issue the following commands:

cd ~/PPA
dget -xu http://ftp.de.debian.org/debian/pool/main/g/gnumed-client/gnumed-client_0.4.6-1.dsc

Now change into this directory and edit the changelog by entering:

cd ~/PPA/gnumed-client-0.4.6/debian
dch

This will open an text editor and will let you specify the changes you made to the package. Usually there will be no changes. Furthermore indicate a new version number. That version should specify the Ubuntu distribution you are building for. We will repeat this procedure for each Ubuntu distribution.

gnumed-client (0.4.6-1hardy1) hardy; urgency=low

   [ Andreas Tille]
   * New upstream version
   
   [ Your Name here]
   * Ubuntunized

 -- Your Name <your.email@someserver.com> Tue, 30 Jun 2009 17:49:52 +0200

Now that you have changed the changelog move up one directory and build the package. The system might ask you for the passphrase for your ssh key.

cd ..
debuild -S -sa

Once the package has built you need to upload it. If you have not done so yet you need to create a file .dput.cf in your home directory. This tells dput where to upload your package. Mine looks like this:

[GNUmed-Hardy]
fqdn = ppa.launchpad.net
method = ftp
incoming = ~gnumed/ubuntu/hardy
login anonymous
allow_unsigned_uploads = 0

[GNUmed-Karmic]
fqdn = ppa.launchpad.net
method = ftp
incoming = ~gnumed/ubuntu/karmic
login anonymous
allow_unsigned_uploads = 0

[GNUmed-Intrepid]
fqdn = ppa.launchpad.net
method = ftp
incoming = ~gnumed/ubuntu/intrepid
login anonymous
allow_unsigned_uploads = 0

[GNUmed-Jaunty]
fqdn = ppa.launchpad.net
method = ftp
incoming = ~gnumed/ubuntu/jaunty
login anonymous
allow_unsigned_uploads = 0

Now move up into ~/PPA and issue the upload command:

dput GNUmed-Hardy gnumed-client_0.4.6-1hardy1_source.changes

Follow the same steps for Ubuntu Intrepid Jaunty and Karmic.