6. Summary

Not to get confused, let us recapture all steps we have taken to build our binary Debian package.

Prerequisite files:

1. one or more binary executable or shell script files

2. a man page for each executable file

3. a 'control' file

4. a 'copyright' file

5. a 'changelog' and 'changelog.Debian' file

Setup temporary 'debian' directories:

1. create ' debian/usr/bin ' directory (or wherever you plan to place your executable files)

2. create ' debian/usr/share/man/man1 ' (or whatever section your man page belongs into)

3. create ' debian/DEBIAN ' directory

4. create ' debian/usr/share/doc/<package_name> '

5. make sure all sub directories of ' debian ' have file permission 0755

Copy files into temporary 'debian' tree:

1. copy executable file into ' debian/usr/bin ' directory (or wherever you plan to place your executable files)

2. copy man page file into ' debian/usr/share/man/man1 ' directory

3. copy 'control' file into ' debian/DEBIAN ' directory

4. copy 'copyright', 'changelog', and 'changelog.Debian' files into ' debian/usr/share/doc/<package_name> '

5. gzip man page, 'copyright', 'changelog', and 'changelog.Debian' files with option '--best' inside the temporary ' debian ' tree

Build and check binary Debian package:

1. invoke ' dpkg-deb --build ' using ' fakeroot ' on the ' debian ' directory

2. rename resulting ' debian.deb ' file to its final package name including version and architecture information

3. check resulting .deb package file for Debian policy compliance using ' lintian '