On Thu, Feb 22, 2001 at 08:23:58AM -0800, Heather wrote: > > On Wed, Feb 21, 2001 at 10:13:23AM +0000, Jacob Meuser wrote: > > > Is there a way to manually edit the database that says which packages > > > are installed? I set up a small system, using potato, and am adding > > > several packages from source. > > alien can turn tgz's into really wimpy debs. or you could build a real > deb file. > > Jacob, let us know if alien does it for you :>
This method seems to be both sufficient and efficient for what I want. It seems to work easily with stow, because I usually build with a prefix=/usr/local/stow/$packagename, so everything installs in a nice easy to tar directory. jakemsr:~/my_pkg$ tar czvf apache-1.3.17.tgz /usr/local/stow/apache jakemsr:~/my_pkg$ sudo rm -rf /usr/local/stow/apache jakemsr:~/my_pkg$ sudo alien apache-1.3.17.tgz .. alien output, mostly it can't find dependencies for libmysqlclient?? I have php-4.0.4lp1 module with mysql-3.23.33 support. Probably can't find the libs because I haven't deb'd them yet. In any case it succeeded .. jakemsr:~/my_pkg$ sudo dpkg -i apache-1.3.17-1.1.deb .. success .. The only downpoint is that everything is installed in /usr/local/stow/apache, so for new packages, you still need to stow them to be of real use. To solve this, configure for a "fake root". Use something like ./configure --prexif=/usr/local/altroot/usr/local, then make the tarball like jakemsr:/usr/local/altroot$ tar czvf apache-1.3.17.tgz *. Then the deb will install into /usr/local. In both cases, apt and dpkg operated as expected on the deb. Mmmmm..... ALIEN. I'm going to clean out /usr/local and try building everything with the fake root method. I'll post my findings prob Sat afternoon. > There is a "hello" package which is really an example of packing a deb. > So, you could craft a really cheap package which contained your binaries; > you could probably use something like GUItar (a gtk app for making backups > which claims to have a file manager type interface ... mc won't work, I've > tried that) to actually fill it up with carefully crafted pieces. > > It's extra trouble but you could set up a 'debianized' build environmant > and then build debs the "normal" way - that would get you both binary and > source debs if you want them. And if following instructions aimed at > developers is easy for you, probably the easier way. (But maybe not easier > than alien) > I started doing this, and if the package is debian aware, it's actually rather easy. I don't really have much desire to be a Debian maintainer, so after a while of reading and not finding a simplified way of creating the control files, I gave up. > > > I added stuff like glib-1.2.8, tcl-8.32, > > > tk8.3.2, etc. How can I tell apt that these packages are installed? > > > Or at least make it think the potato version is installed. > > Well, you *could* really install the potato version, then apply your own > redirections on them. That's handled in /var/lib/dpkg/alternatives and if > you install lynx-ssl there is a really nice example of it replacing lynx > (because you might, for some reason, want to use the lynx without ssl.) > > I use this trick to redirect the SVGA server when I'm replacing it with > some vendor's hacked version to make their card work... because it's really > annoying to forget that you replaced it and have your card not work anymore > when you take the plunge and upgrade. And if the upgrade *claims* it now > covers your card - you still get the new one to try, so you can run it > explicitly. > My HD is 4.5G and has win on it also, it also seems sloppy to have old binaries around that I don't have any need for. And like you said, an update would point things back at /usr. > > You may want to take a close(r) look at apt-cache. I have no idea if I'm > > correct, or if so, how to use it in this method, but it seems like the > > right tool for the job... > > I thought apt-cache was for keeping a batch of debs so a bunch of machines > can share them? Anyways I just did an apt-get update and I don't even see > apt-cache in there. > I used 'apt-cache search tk8' to find the packages that were part of the Tk distribution. It's basically a list of all debs your system knows about, either installed or available. <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
