pkgbuild tips - 1

I have been thinking for some time that I should publish some tips for building packages using pkgbuild. If you have created more then one spec file using pkgbuild, then you will know that many things are repeatable. The general process goes like time -

1. Create an initial spec file from either a template or a spec file for a similar application.
2. Try a build.
   
3. You should expect that the above should fail. Check the log file (/tmp/.log) for where it failed. Fix the problem. Generally a typo or the build needs a patch
4. Repeat 2-3 until the prep and build works. If it actually installs the packages, then go to 7
   
5. Look in the RPM_BUILD_ROOT directory tree in /var/tmp for what was installed, and adjust the %files section of the spec file to match the installation.
6. Go back and repeat from 2 (Note: you can short-cut this with pkgbuild)
7. Publish the spec file(s), patches, ChangeLog etc and your done.

Todays tip involves adding a patch. I find that using 2 or 3 windows makes this really easy. The 1st window is where you do the pkgtool/pkgbuild commands and edit your spec files. You use the 2nd window to dig through the build area to find and fix any bugs or problems after a fail build. Have the 3rd window setup so you are in the /tmp directory. Once you have a change to make that requires a patch, just do somthing similar in following in the 3rd window.

jdsbuild@prae> cd /tmp
jdsbuild@prae> gtar fxj ~/packages/SOURCES/xfwm4-4.4.1.tar.bz2
jdsbuild@prae> mv xfwm4-4.4.1 xfwm4-4.4.1-orig
jdsbuild@prae> gtar fxj ~/packages/SOURCES/xfwm4-4.4.1.tar.bz2
#
# Fix the files which need to be patched.
#
jdsbuild@prae> diff -ur xfwm4-4.4.1-orig xfwm4-4.4.1 > ~/spec-files-xfce/patches/xfwm4-01-fixbadcode.diff

At this point add an entry for the patch xfwm4-01-fixbadcode.diff into the spec file and try again.

If you need to add another patch, just remove the patched directory, and un-tar again.

Maybe you want to merge a fix into an existing patch. Just patch the directory in /tmp and then make the changes.

jdsbuild@prae> cd /tmp
jdsbuild@prae> gtar fxj ~/packages/SOURCES/xfwm4-4.4.1.tar.bz2
jdsbuild@prae> mv xfwm4-4.4.1 xfwm4-4.4.1-orig
jdsbuild@prae> gtar fxj ~/packages/SOURCES/xfwm4-4.4.1.tar.bz2
jdsbuild@prae> cd xfwm4-4.4.1
jdsbuild@prae> gpatch -p1 < ~/spec-files-xfce/patches/xfwm4-01-fixbadcode.diff jdsbuild@prae> cd /tmp
#
# Fix the files which need to be patched.
#
jdsbuild@prae> diff -ur xfwm4-4.4.1-orig xfwm4-4.4.1 > ~/spec-files-xfce/patches/xfwm4-01-fixbadcode.diff

Using a shell like bash with command line editing, the process can be quite quick and easy.

Have Fun!!!

Chinese Pirates

According to a report in the Bangkok Post, "Nearly half of all books, films, music CDs and software sold in China are illegally copied". Now I find it very hard to believe that it could be less than 50%. The Chinese are much smarter than that!

I have always had the view that if the sticker price is much higher than the price to reproduce, than you will always have illegal copies being made. For software, I would love for Microsoft (and others) to find a secure way of protecting their licensing of their software. This would force people to look at the alternative free Open Source software such as Solaris, BSD, Linux and Open Office. Companies like Microsoft using the old "high admission fee" model will one day have to change their ways. They maybe able to hold their market share for a little longer in the developed world, but there is a much larger market in the developing world who are much more price sensitive.