Creating .deb to install bash script program

Question

I was wondering if the following is possible.

I have a BASH script that I want to make available for some people but I wanted them to only have to "install" the program and not messing around with terminal, so I thought a .deb would be cool.

So what would the "install" do?

Simple. I want to move the script and an icon to a folder (any folder, but I was wondering some hidden folder in Home) and then run a script that creates a launcher in the Applications menu for the first script. It seems there isn't much to it, but for what I've searched, there doesn't seem to be a lot of info...

How can I accomplish this?

By the way, I'm using Ubuntu 11.04.

Answer 1

Basically (install and) run dh-make to set up the debian/ directory, edit the generated files (mainly remove the many you do not need, and fill in a package description and any dependencies in debian/control), then debuild-us -uc -b.

You may also have to set up a simple Makefile for debian/rules to call; it probably only needs an install target to copy the binary to $(DESTDIR)/usr/bin.

Binaries install into /usr/bin and you should not try to override that. The way to have a menu is to add a .desktop file.

Once you have a good .deb you will need to set up a repo for distributing it. The simplest solution is probably to set up a launchpad.net account and create a personal PPA there.

It's not hard to find more information on these topics, but of course, you need to know what to look for. The canonical documentation is the Debian New Maintainer's Guide.

Answer 2

Found this video on youtube that explains IN FULL the process of creating a *.deb for a script or program and even mentions how to do it for a C program.

Full guide in how to build simple *.deb package

Has one bug, btw, that the author, during the making of the *.deb, didn't notice. The path in the *.desktop file for the EXEC parameter is wrong in the example.