PackagingGuide/QtApplication - Ubuntu Wiki
QtApplication
Create Ubuntu DEB package from a Qt application
The following instructions describe how to create an Ubuntu .deb package from a Qt application.
Introduction
Programs written using the Qt framework are not configured by a configure-script, but by the qmake (qmake-qt4) program which is part of the Qt development tools. This program will (also) generate the Makefile.
This guide assumes there is no similar package in an Ubuntu repository available and you intend to build a new package from scratch using dpkg-buildpackage / pbuilder.
A detailed guide on .deb packaging can be found at the PackagingGuide. This guide will describe the packaging process just in a short summary.
Setting up the environment
1. Download the necessary tools via apt-get
sudo apt-get install build-essential devscripts ubuntu-dev-tools debhelper dh-make diff patch gnupg fakeroot lintian pbuilder
2. Pbuilder lets you build in a clean, chroot environment, ensuring all dependencies are present. Create a file .pbuilderrc
nano .pbuilderrc
and fill it with
COMPONENTS="main restricted universe multiverse"
Then construct the base environment (note: it can take a long time)
sudo pbuilder create
3. Get the sources of the desired application and untar them into a specific directory
tar -xvf helloworld-1.0.tar.gz
4. Preserve an .orig-archive ('-' between name and version becomes '_'!)
cp helloworld-1.0.tar.gz helloworld_1.0.orig.tar.gz
5. Descend into the created directory and execute dh_make. Answer to the questions dh_make will ask
cd helloworld-1.0 dh_make -e your@email.address
6. Descend into the 'debian'-directory and delete unneeded templates (unless you need them)
cd debian rm *.ex *.EX
7. Edit the 'changelog', 'copyright' and 'control' files. For information how to do it, go to https://wiki.ubuntu.com/PackagingGuide/PackagingOverview Make sure that libqt4-dev and qt4-qmake is added to the Build-Depends list (assuming you're using Qt 4.x).
8. In the next step, you can use either plain Debhelper or CDBS to write your rules file.
8a. If you want Debhelper, replace the 'rules'-file with the one from /usr/share/doc/debhelper/examples/rules.arch and edit it according to your needs
#!/usr/bin/make -f # Sample debian/rules that uses debhelper. # This file is public domain software, originally written by Joey Hess. # # This version is for packages that are architecture dependent. # Uncomment this to turn on verbose mode. #export DH_VERBOSE=1 build: build-stamp build-stamp: dh_testdir # Add here commands to compile the package. qmake-qt4 -config release make touch build-stamp clean: dh_testdir dh_testroot rm -f build-stamp # Add here commands to clean up after the build process. #$(MAKE) clean #$(MAKE) distclean dh_clean install: build dh_testdir dh_testroot dh_prep dh_installdirs # Add here commands to install the package into debian/<packagename> make INSTALL_ROOT=`pwd`/debian/package_name install # Build architecture-independent files here. binary-indep: build install # We have nothing to do by default. # Build architecture-dependent files here. binary-arch: build install dh_testdir dh_testroot dh_installchangelogs dh_installdocs dh_installexamples dh_installman dh_link dh_strip dh_compress dh_fixperms dh_installdeb dh_shlibdeps dh_gencontrol dh_md5sums dh_builddeb binary: binary-indep binary-arch .PHONY: build clean binary-indep binary-arch binary install
Important: In line 38, change "package_name" into actual name of your package. If you have some custom commands, add it to line 16.
8b. CDBS (Common Debian Building System) provides a simpler method for writing the rules to build the package.
The use of this system requires that cdbs be added to the Build-Depends list in the control file (see step 7).
To use it, first install it with
sudo apt-get install cdbs
Then save the rules file with these contents
#!/usr/bin/make -f include /usr/share/cdbs/1/rules/debhelper.mk include /usr/share/cdbs/1/class/qmake.mk
9. Add the following Lines to your .pro-file in the parent directory
TARGET = <application> target.path = /usr/bin INSTALLS += target
optional: add supplementary files to the installation
data.path = /usr/share/<application>/data data.files = data/* INSTALLS += data
A comprehensive guide that shows the possibilities of QMake, e.g. whether a certain file already exists on the target system, can be found at http://doc.qt.nokia.com/latest/qmake-manual.html
Building the package
10. Now you can either build the package locally or - if you prepared the pbuilder earlier - in a base environment.
10a. Building locally can be achieved with
debuild
It produces the DEB package in the directory above.
Note: If you don't have GPG key to sign the package, add parameters
debuild -uc -us
10b. To build with pbuilder, prepare .dsc file
debuild -S
Run pbuilder itself
sudo pbuilder build ../*.dsc
The DEB package goes to /var/cache/pbuilder/result/.
Note: Using pbuilder takes more time than building locally, but guarantees your package and its dependencies will be installed properly on any machine using Ubuntu. If you don't know if your prepared the sources properly, a common practice is to firstly build the package locally with debuild. If something goes wrong, you can speed up recompilation with parameters -nc. In the end, build the package again in pbuilder to make sure everything works.
