stdeb produces Debian source packages from Python packages via a new
distutils command, sdist_dsc. Automatic defaults are provided for
the Debian package, but many aspects of the resulting package can be
customized via a configuration file. An additional command,
bdist_deb, creates a Debian binary package, a .deb file.
Contents
- 2009-11-02: Version 0.4.2 Released. See the download page. See the changelog and release notes.
- 2009-10-04: Version 0.4.1 Released. See the download page. See the changelog and release notes.
- 2009-09-27: Version 0.4 Released. See the download page. This version switches to debhelper 7, and thus requires Ubuntu Intrepid or Debian Lenny at a minimum (unless you use backports). See the Changelog for 0.4
- 2009-10-04: Version 0.3.2 Released. See the download page. See the Changelog for 0.3.2
- 2009-09-27: Version 0.3.1 Released. See the download page. See the Changelog for 0.3.1
- 2009-03-21: Version 0.3 Released. See the download page. See the Changelog for 0.3
- 2009-02-17: Version 0.2.3 Released. See the download page. See the Changelog for 0.2.3
- 2009-01-29: Version 0.2.2 Released. See the download page. See the Changelog for 0.2.2
- 2008-04-26: Version 0.2.1 Released. See the download page. See the Changelog for 0.2.1
- 2008-04-26: Version 0.2 Released. See the download page. See the Changelog for 0.2
- 2007-04-02: Version 0.2.a1 Released. See the old download page.
- 2006-06-19: Version 0.1 Released. See the old download page.
All methods eventually result in a call to the sdist_dsc distutils
command. You may prefer to do so directly:
python -c "import stdeb; execfile('setup.py')" sdist_dsc
Alternatively, two scripts are provided:
stdeb_run_setup [options] # calls "python setup.py sdist_dsc [options]" py2dsc [options] mypackage-0.1.tar.gz # uses pre-built Python source package
In all cases, a Debian source package is produced from unmodified
Python packages. The following files are produced in a newly created
subdirectory deb_dist:
packagename_versionname.orig.tar.gzpackagename_versionname-debianversion.dscpackagename_versionname-debianversion.diff.gz
These can then be compiled into binary packages using the standard Debian machinery (e.g. dpkg-buildpackage).
Also, a bdist_deb distutils command is installed. This calls the
sdist_dsc command and then runs dpkg-buildpackage on the result:
python -c "import stdeb; execfile('setup.py')" bdist_deb
Do this from the directory with your setup.py file:
python -c "import stdeb; execfile('setup.py')" bdist_deb
This will make a Debian source package (.dsc, .orig.tar.gz and
.diff.gz files) and then compile it to a Debian binary package (.deb)
for your current system. The result will be in deb_dist.
Warning: installing the .deb file on other versions of Ubuntu or Debian than the one on which it was compiled will result in undefined behavior. If you have extension modules, they will probably break. Even in the absence of extension modules, bad stuff will likely happen.
For this reason, it is much better to build the Debian source package and then compile that (e.g. using Ubuntu's PPA) for each target version of Debian or Ubuntu.
This generates a source package:
wget http://pypi.python.org/packages/source/R/Reindent/Reindent-0.1.0.tar.gz py2dsc Reindent-0.1.0.tar.gz
This turns it into a .deb using the standard Debian tools. (Do this on the same source package for each target distribution):
cd deb_dist/reindent-0.1.0/ dpkg-buildpackage -rfakeroot -uc -us
This installs it:
cd .. sudo dpkg -i python-reindent_0.1.0-1_all.deb
This example is more useful if you don't have a Python source package
(.tar.gz file generated by python setup.py sdist). For the sake of
illustration, we do download such a tarball, but immediately unpack it
(alternatively, use a version control system to grab the unpacked
source of a package):
wget http://pypi.python.org/packages/source/R/Reindent/Reindent-0.1.0.tar.gz tar xzf Reindent-0.1.0.tar.gz cd Reindent-0.1.0
The following will generate a directory deb_dist containing the
files reindent_0.1.0-1.dsc, reindent_0.1.0.orig.tar.gz and
reindent_0.1.0-1.diff.gz, which, together, are a debian source
package:
python setup.py sdist_dsc
(For packages that don't use setuptools, you need to get the stdeb
monkeypatch for the sdist_dsc distutils command. So, do this: python
-c "import stdeb; execfile('setup.py')" sdist_dsc, or use the
command stdeb_run_setup, which does just this.)
The source generated in the above way is also extracted (using
dpkg-source -x) and placed in the deb_dist subdirectory. To
continue the example above:
cd deb_dist/reindent-0.1.0 dpkg-buildpackage -rfakeroot -uc -us
Finally, the generated package can be installed:
cd .. sudo dpkg -i python-reindent_0.1.0-1_all.deb
For yet another example of use, with still more explanation, see allmydata-tahoe ticket 251.
Files are available at the download page (for ancient releases, see the old download page).
The git repository is available at http://github.com/astraw/stdeb
For the average Python package, its source distribution
(python_package.tar.gz created with python setup.py sdist)
contains nearly everything necessary to make a Debian source
package. This near-equivalence encouraged me to write this distutils
extension, which executes the setup.py file to extract relevant
information. This process is made significantly easier through the use
of setuptools.
setuptools is used because of some nice features. For example, setuptools makes the job of "Debianizing" python console and gui scripts much easier.
I wrote this initially to Debianize several Python packages of my own, but I have the feeling it could be generally useful. It appears similar, at least in theory, to easydeb, Logilab's Devtools, bdist_dpkg and bdist_deb.
- Create a package for all Python versions supported by
python-support. (Limiting this range is possible with the
XS-Python-Version:config option.) - Automatic conversion of Python package names into valid Debian package names.
- Attempt to automatically convert version numbers such that ordering
is maintained. (The setuptools version sorting is different than the
Debian version sorting.) See also the config option
Forced-Upstream-Version. - Fine grained control of version numbers. (
Debian-Version,Forced-Upstream-Version,Upstream-Version-Prefix,Upstream-Version-Suffixconfig options.) - Install .desktop files. (
MIME-Desktop-Filesconfig option.) - Install .mime and .sharedmimeinfo files. (
MIME-FileandShared-MIME-Fileconfig options.) - Install copyright files. (
Copyright-Fileconfig option.) - Apply patches to upstream sources. (
Stdeb-Patch-Fileconfig option.) - Pass environment variables to setup.py script. (
Setup-Env-Varsconfig option.)
stdeb will attempt to provide reasonable defaults, but these are only guesses.
To customize the Debian source package produced, you may write config
files of the format understood by ConfigParser. When building each
package, stdeb looks for the existance of a stdeb.cfg file in the
.egg-info directory. You may specify an additional config file
with the command-line option --extra-cfg-file. Other command line
options may also be provided.
| Config file option | Effect |
|---|---|
| Debian-Version | Set Debian version |
| Maintainer | Set Debian maintainer |
| Forced-Upstream-Version | Force upstream version number |
| Upstream-Version-Prefix | Force upstream version prefix (e.g. epoch) |
| Upstream-Version-Suffix | Force upstream version suffix |
| Build-Depends | Add entry to debian/control |
| Depends | Add entry to debian/control |
| Package | Name of (binary) package |
| Source | Nome of source package |
| XS-Python-Version | Add to debian/control (limits Python versions) |
| MIME-Desktop-Files | Filename of .desktop file(s) to install |
| MIME-File | Filename of .mime file(s) to install |
| Shared-MIME-File | Filename of .sharedmimeinfo file(s) to install |
| Copyright-File | Filename of copyright file to install |
| Stdeb-Patch-File | Patches to apply |
| Setup-Env-Vars | Environment variables to set on call to setup.py |
| Command line option | Effect |
|---|---|
| --dist-dir (-d) | directory to put final built distributions in (default='deb_dist') |
| --patch-already-applied (-a) | patch was already applied (used when py2dsc calls sdist_dsc) |
| --default-distribution (-z) | distribution name to use if not specified in .cfg (default='unstable') |
| --default-maintainer (-m) | maintainer name and email to use if not specified in .cfg (default from setup.py) |
| --extra-cfg-file (-x) | additional .cfg file (in addition to .egg-info/stdeb.cfg if present) |
| --patch-file (-p) | patch file applied before setup.py called (incompatible with file specified in .cfg) |
| --patch-level (-l) | patch file applied before setup.py called (incompatible with file specified in .cfg) |
| --patch-posix (-q) | apply the patch with --posix mode |
| --remove-expanded-source-dir (-r) | remove the expanded source directory |
| --ignore-install-requires (-i) | ignore the requirements from requires.txt in the egg-info directory |
| --debian-version | debian version |
| --pycentral-backwards-compatibility | If True (currently the default), enable migration from old stdeb that used pycentral |
| --workaround-548392 | If True (currently the default), limit binary package to single Python version, working around Debian bug 548392 of debhelper |
| --no-backwards-compatibility | If True, set --pycentral-backwards- compatibility=False and --workaround- 548392=False. (Default=False). |
| --use-premade-distfile (-P) | use .zip or .tar.gz file already made by sdist command |
- Python 2.5 or higher (older python OK if you use subprocess.py with backports from Python 2.5)
- Standard Debian utilities such as
date,dpkg-sourceand Debhelper 7 (use stdeb 0.3.x if you need to support older distributions without dh7)
There is a chicken-and-egg problem when trying to make a Debian package of stdeb with stdeb. Here's a recipe to avoid it:
# in the stdeb distribution directory (with setup.py) python setup.py sdist python setup.py build PYTHONPATH="build/lib" python stdeb/py2dsc.py dist/stdeb-VERSION.tar.gz
- Make output meet Debian Python Policy specifications or the new
python policy. This will include several things, among which are:
- the ability to make custom changelogs
- the ability to include project-supplied documentation as a -doc package
- include license information in debian/copyright
- the ability to include project-supplied examples, tests, and data as a separate package
- much more not listed
- Create (better) documentation
- Log output using standard distutils mechanisms
- Refactor the source code to have a simpler, more sane design
I don't have a lot of time for this. This project stands a very real chance of being only a shadow of its potential self unless people step up and contribute. There are numerous ways in which people could help. In particular, I'd be interested in finding a co-maintainer or maintainer if the project generates any interest. Secondarily, I would appreciate advice from Debian developers or Ubuntu MOTUs about the arcane details of Python packaging.
Please address all questions to the distutils-SIG
MIT-style license. Copyright (c) 2006-2009 stdeb authors.
See the LICENSE.txt file provided with the source distribution for full details.
- Andrew Straw <strawman@astraw.com>
- Pedro Algarvio, aka, s0undt3ch <ufs@ufsoft.org>
- Gerry Reno (initial bdist_deb implementation)
- Zooko O'Whielacronx for the autofind-depends patch
- Brett (last name unknown) for the --ignore-install-requires patch
- Ximin Luo for a bug fix
- Alexander D. Sedov for bug fixes and suggestions
- GitHub for hosting services.
- WebFaction (aka python-hosting) for previous hosting services.