SUMMARY

This guide describes the steps for packaging Manuskript for Linux using dpkg. The resulting .deb package runs on both 32-bit and 64-bit Debian based GNU/Linux distributions.

CONSIDERATIONS

This document is heavily based on the steps found in this stackoverflow.com answer. A huge thank you to Rafael Senties Martinelli for posting this simplified method of building a .deb package.

Originally I tried Ubuntu 14.04 Trusty Tahr as the base distro to build the .deb file. Unfortunately when this .deb file was installed on same distro it failed to run. Hence I am now using Debian 8 Jessie.

PREPARATION

Install tools needed to build package.

sudo update
sudo apt install dpkg wget

CREATE PACKAGE STRUCTURE

These are the basics for creating a Debian package for manuskript with dpkg -b <folder>.

Note that I have modified these steps to be specific to manuskript.

In all of the steps replace the following variables with values:

AppName      manuskript
AppVersion   0.5.0
PkgNumber    1
PkgVersion   0.5.0-1
PkgSizeInKb  # find with:  du -sk manuskript-0.5.0-1

Create the files and folders in order to recreate the following structure:

{PkgVersion}/
{PkgVersion}/DEBIAN
{PkgVersion}/DEBIAN/control
{PkgVersion}/usr/
{PkgVersion}/usr/bin/
{PkgVersion}/usr/bin/{AppName}   # Invocation script
{PkgVersion}/usr/share/
{PkgVersion}/usr/share/applications
{PkgVersion}/usr/share/applications/{AppName}.desktop
{PkgVersion}/usr/share/{AppName}
{PkgVersion}/usr/share/{AppName}/{AppName-files}   # Python code

Now the code to do this:

mkdir dist
cd dist
mkdir -p manuskript-0.5.0-1/DEBIAN
mkdir -p manuskript-0.5.0-1/usr/bin
mkdir -p manuskript-0.5.0-1/usr/share/applications

Add the python source code

pushd manuskript-0.5.0-1/usr/share
wget https://github.com/olivierkes/manuskript/archive/0.5.0.tar.gz
tar -xvf 0.5.0.tar.gz
rm 0.5.0.tar.gz
mv manuskript-0.5.0 manuskript
popd

Add the invocation script

Create manuskript-0.5.0-1/usr/bin/manuskript invocation file with contents:

----- begin manuskript -----

#!/usr/bin/env python3
# -*- coding: utf-8 -*-
#
# manuskript - invocation python script
#
# Copyright (C) 2017 Olivier Keshavjee
#
# This file is part of Manuskript.
#
# Manuskript is free software: you can redistribute it and/or modify
# it under the terms of the GNU General Public License as published by
# the Free Software Foundation, either version 3 of the License, or
# (at your option) any later version.
#
# Manuskript is distributed in the hope that it will be useful,
# but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of
# MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE.  See the
# GNU General Public License for more details.
#
# You should have received a copy of the GNU General Public License
# along with Manuskript.  If not, see <http://www.gnu.org/licenses/>.

import os
import sys

sys.path.insert(1, '/usr/share/manuskript/')

from manuskript import main

main.run()

----- end manuskript -----

Make the invocation script permissions executable.

chmod 0755 manuskript-0.5.0-1/usr/bin/manuskript

Make the desktop graphic icon launch file.

Create manuskript-0.5.0-1/usr/share/applications/manuskript.desktop file with contents:

----- begin manuskript.desktop -----
```
[Desktop Entry]
Name=Manuskript
Comment=An open source tool for writers
Keywords=manuskript;office;write;edit;novel;text;msk
Exec=/usr/bin/manuskript
Terminal=false
Type=Application
Icon=/usr/share/manuskript/icons/Manuskript/icon-512px.png
Categories=Office;WordProcessor;
```
----- end manuskript.desktop -----

After 0.5.0 release start using /usr/share/manuskript/icons/Manuskript/manuskript.svg

Make the DEBIAN control file.

Fields taken from deb-control man page.

Create manuskript-0.5.0-1/DEBIAN/control file with contents:

----- begin control -----

Package: manuskript
Version: 0.5.0-1
Maintainer: Curtis Gedak <gedakc@gmail.com>
Description: Manuskript open source tool for writers.
 Manuskript is an open source tool for writers.  It
 provides a rich environment to help writers create
 their first draft and then further refine and edit
 their masterpiece.
Section: office, text
Priority: optional
Installed-Size: {PkgSizeInKb}
Architecture: all
Origin: Debian 8 Jessie
Bugs: https://github.com/olivierkes/manuskript/issues
Homepage: https://github.com/olivierkes/manuskript/
Source: https://github.com/olivierkes/manuskript/archive/0.5.0.tar.gz
Depends: python3, python3-pyqt5, python3-pyqt5.qtwebkit, libqt5svg5, python3-lxml, zlib1g, python3-enchant, python3-markdown, pandoc
Suggests: texlive-latex-recommended

----- end control -----

Remember to fill in {PkgSizeInKb}!
Use command: du -sk manuskript-0.5.0-1

NOTE: Build on Ubuntu 14.04 Trusty Tahr would fail to run when the .deb package was installed. Now using Debian 8 Jessie.

Change all the folders and files ownership to root.
```
sudo chown root:root -R manuskript-0.5.0-1
```
Create the .deb package.
```
dpkg -b manuskript-0.5.0-1
```
This should create a manuskript-0.5.0-1.deb file.

PACKAGE INSTALL TEST

Install .deb package with:

sudo apt update                       # Ensure repository is up-to-date
sudo dpkg -i manuskript-0.5.0-1.deb   # Install package without dependencies
sudo apt install -f                   # Install missing dependencies

And try running manuskript.

Other useful commands:

List installed manuskript package with dpkg -l | grep -i manuskript
Remove manuskript package with sudo apt purge manuskript or sudo dpkg --purge manuskript

REFERENCES

Standard way to create debian packages for distributing Python programs?