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Amandasaurus
Asked: 2010-03-31 03:09:28 +0800 CST

Given a debian source package - How do I install the build-deps?

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I have a debian (well technically ubuntu) source package, i.e. the .dsc, the .tar.gz, etc., I want to build this. The dpkg-buildpackage fails, since I don't have all the build dependencies.

Normally I'd use apt-get build-dep, but this package isn't in apt.

Is there a 'clean', 'proper' way to install all the build dependencies, given a source package. I know I could just open the debian/control file, but I'm curious if there's a 'proper' way.

I have installed build-essential, and have all the normal compilers etc., this package requires extra software.

ubuntu debian apt package-management dpkg

6 Answers

  1. Use mk-build-deps which is part of devscripts.

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  2. Here is an example workflow using ptman's suggestion.

    Assuming you have downloaded the .dsc file, the .orig.*z file, and maybe also a .debian.*z file, then unpack the source package with:

    dpkg-source -x [package_name]_[package_version].dsc

    Move into the extracted source folder and run:

    sudo mk-build-deps -i

    This will create the file [package_name]-build-deps_[version].deb and install it, and also install all the dependencies it suggests.

    Now you should be able to build your package from source:

    debuild

    When you are finished, you can easily remove the dependencies that were pulled in, by removing the build-deps package which you generated:

    sudo apt-get purge --auto-remove [package_name]-build-deps
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  3. Best Answer

    Actually I can use dpkg-checkbuilddeps which shows the build dependencies. That gets me 99% of what I need

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  4. I usually use debuild from devscripts to build packages, and if relevent it prints a line of the missing build-deps.

    The "proper" way is to use pbuilder or similar which will build the package in a minimal chroot, and just install any additional build-deps as specified by the package, this also removes a bunch of other potential issues (local installations of non-packaged libraries for example).

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  5. The file debian/control lists all the packages that should be installed as build-dependencies. If (for whatever reason) you have installed some of the required software without the apt system, then just remove respective lines from the debian/control file, so dpkg-buildpackage will not know about these packages and not check on them.

    Another trick is to execute the build instructions directly, which also circumvents any extra checks by dpkg-buildpackage and that also does not perform the cleaning of the build files (helps with incremental local fixes) by executing fakeroot ./debian/rules binary instead of dpkg-buildpackage.

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  6. Try:

    apt-get install build-essential
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