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Development Environment

Installing the basics

To start development on packages you need to not install package specific dependencies, but also the general toolset for Debian packages.

sudo apt install devscripts dpkg-dev build-essential dh-make debhelper

devscripts

Includes various CLI tools to work with and manipulate a source package, see the description for more details:

apt show devscripts

dpkg-dev

Brings the dpkg-* tools to actually build and assemble the packages, this is installed automatically as dependency of devscripts.

debhelper

Since dpkg-dev only contains the very basic toolset, debhelper brings are lot of automation and simplification to the build process. And avoids you taking care about everything.

Just look for dh_* manpages.

build-essential

Depends on the most basic build tools, like make or gcc, which you will need for the most Unix sources.

dh-make

An optional add-on for quick-starting Debian packages, so to have a basic boilerplate to start with packaging.

Online Resources

Various online resources exist to help you research and find details on packages.

  • Tracker Central search and information base for source packages
    • Including: history, versions, bugs, security info and links to sources and other tools
  • Debian GitLab

Please also see the online resources in the Admin Guide.