[CMake] Creating Debian source packages with CMake

Daniel Pfeifer daniel at pfeifer-mail.de
Wed Oct 20 12:31:21 EDT 2010


Hi,

> Does it make sense to use CPack for debian packaging?

If you just want to build debian packages, then it probably does not
make sense to use CPack. If however you want to build packages for a
range of platforms and you want to keep them consistent, then CPack
would be an excellent choice.

> Anyone getting the source for a debian package knows that running 
> "dpkg-buildpackage" will create packages. They may not have a clue what 
> CPack is. This goes for utilities such as "apt-get" which can build 
> packages from source if they follow the standard debian way of doing it.

This is not the full truth. The standard debian way is to have an
executable file named `debian/rules` which creates packages when
invoked. What tools are used to create these packages is always
different. Mostly it is combination of some of the following: debhelper,
dpkg, autotools, CMake, handwritten files... and maybe CPack in the
future.

I agree that users should not need to have a clue what CPack is. All
they should care about is `aptitude install your-program`.
However, Programmers should not need to have a clue about packaging
either! All the should care about is `make package`.

cheers, Daniel




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