Chapter 15 is for administrators who want to go further and create their own Debian packages.
VOCABULARY Debian package
A Debian package is an archive containing all the files required to install a piece of software. It is generally a file with a .deb extension, and it can be handled with the dpkg command. Also called binary package, it contains files that can be directly used (such as programs or documentation). On the other hand, a source package contains the source code for the software and the instructions required for building the binary package.
The present English version is based on the fifth edition of the French book. This fifth edition was an important update, covering version 6.0 of Debian, code-named Squeeze. Among the changes, Debian now sports two new architectures — kfreebsd-i386 and kfreebsd-amd64 — based on the FreeBSD kernel and supporting the associated technologies (jails, packet filter and so on). On Linux-based architectures, the 2.6.32 kernel extends support to all the main virtualization technologies (Xen/OpenVZ/LXC/KVM, see Section 12.2, “Virtualization”). All included packages have obviously been updated. Many improvements specifically target package maintainers, who can now use a simplified debian/rules (with debhelper's dh command); they also benefit from a standard patch management system integrated to dpkg-source (by using the 3.0 (quilt) source package format).
We have added some notes and remarks in sidebars. They have a variety of roles: they can draw attention to a difficult point, complete a notion of the case study, define some terms, or serve as reminders. Here is a list of the most common of these sidebars:
BACK TO BASICS: a reminder for some information that is supposed to be known;
VOCABULARY: defines a technical term, sometimes Debian specific;
COMMUNITY: highlights important persons or roles within the project;
POLICY: a rule or recommendation from the Debian Policy. This document is essential within the project, and describes how to package software. The parts of policy highlighted in this book bring direct benefits to users (for example, knowing that the policy standardizes the location of documentation and examples makes it easy to find them even in a new package).
TOOL: presents a relevant tool or service;
IN PRACTICE: theory and practice do not always match; these sidebars contain advice resulting from our experience. They can also give detailed and concrete examples;
other more or less frequent sidebars are rather explicit: CULTURE, TIP, CAUTION, GOING FURTHER, SECURITY, and so on.
5. Acknowledgments
5.1. A Bit of History
In 2003, Nat Makarevitch contacted me (Raphaël) because he wanted to publish a book on Debian in the Cahier de l'Admin (Admin's Handbook) collection that he was managing for Eyrolles, a leading French editor of technical books. I immediately accepted to write it. The first edition came out on 14th October 2004 and was a huge success — it was sold out barely four months later.
Since then, we have released 4 other editions of the French book, one for each subsequent Debian release. Roland Mas, who started working on the book as my proofreader, gradually became its co-author.
While we were obviously satisfied with the book's success, we always hoped that Eyrolles would convince an international editor to translate it into English. We had received numerous comments explaining how the book helped people to get started with Debian, and we were keen to have the book benefit more people in the same way.
Alas, no English-speaking editor that we contacted was willing to take the risk of translating and publishing the book. Not put off by this small setback, we decided to negotiate with our French editor Eyrolles to recuperate the necessary rights to translate the book into English and to try to publish it ourselves.
5.2. A Crowd-Funded Translation
Translating a book of 450 pages is a considerable effort that requires several months of work. For self-employed people like Roland and me, we had to ensure a minimum income to mobilize the time necessary to complete the project. So we set up a crowd-funding campaign on Ulule and asked people to pledge money towards the project.
→ http://www.ulule.com/debian-handbook/
The campaign had two goals: raising €15,000 for the translation and completing a €25,000 liberation fund to get the resulting book published under a free license — that is, a license that fully follows the Debian Free Software Guidelines.
When the Ulule campaign ended, the first goal had been achieved with €24,345 raised. The liberation fund was not complete however, with only €14,935 raised. As initially announced, the liberation campaign continued independently from Ulule on the book's official website.
While we were busy translating the book, donations towards the liberation continued to flow in… And in April 2012, the liberation fund was completed. You can thus benefit from this book under the terms of a free license.
We would like to thank everybody who contributed to these fundraising campaigns, either by pledging some money or by passing the word around. We couldn't have done it without you.
5.2.1. Supportive Companies and Organizations
We had the pleasure of getting significant contributions from many free software-friendly companies and organizations. Thank you to Code Lutin, École Ouverte Francophone, Evolix, Fantini Bakery, FSF France, Offensive Security (the company behind BackTrack Linux), Opensides, Proxmox Server Solutions Gmbh, SSIELL (Société Solidaire d'Informatique En Logiciels Libres), and Syminet.
We would also like to thank OMG! Ubuntu and April for their help in promoting the operation.
5.2.2. Individual Supporters
With over 650 supporters in the initial fundraising, and several hundred more in the continued liberation campaign, it is thanks to people like you that this project has been possible. Thank you!
We want to address our special thanks to those who contributed at least €35 (sometimes much more!) to the liberation fund. We are glad that there are so many people who share our values about freedom and yet recognize that we deserved a compensation for the work that we have put into this project.
So thank you Alain Coron, Alain Thabaud, Alan Milnes, Alastair Sherringham, Alban Dumerain, Alessio Spadaro, Alex King, Alexandre Dupas, Ambrose Andrews, Andre Klärner, Andreas Olsson, Andrej Ricnik, Andrew Alderwick, Anselm Lingnau, Antoine Emerit, Armin F. Gnosa, Avétis Kazarian, Bdale Garbee, Benoit Barthelet, Bernard Zijlstra, Carles Guadall Blancafort, Carlos Horowicz — Planisys S.A., Charles Brisset, Charlie Orford, Chris Sykes, Christian Bayle, Christian Leutloff, Christian Maier, Christian Perrier, Christophe Drevet, Christophe Schockaert (R3vLibre), Christopher Allan Webber, Colin Ameigh, Damien Dubédat, Dan Pettersson, Dave Lozier, David Bercot, David James, David Schmitt, David Tran Quang Ty, Elizabeth Young, Fabian Rodriguez, Ferenc Kiraly, Frédéric Perrenot — Intelligence Service 001, Fumihito Yoshida, Gian-Maria Daffré, Gilles Meier, Giorgio Cittadini, Héctor Orón Martínez, Henry, Herbert Kaminski, Hideki Yamane, Hoffmann Information Services GmbH, Holger Burkhardt, Horia Ardelean, Ivo Ugrina, Jan Dittberner, Jim Salter, Johannes Obermüller, Jonas Bofjäll, Jordi Fernandez Moledo, Jorg Willekens, Joshua, Kastrolis Imanta, Keisuke Nakao, Kévin Audebrand, Korbinian Preisler, Kristian Tizzard, Laurent Bruguière, Laurent Hamel, Leurent Sylvain, Loïc Revest, Luca Scarabello, Lukas Bai, Marc Singer, Marcelo Nicolas Manso, Marilyne et Thomas, Mark Janssen — Sig-I/O Automatisering, Mark Sheppard, Mark Symonds, Mathias Bocquet, Matteo Fulgheri, Michael Schaffner, Michele Baldessari, Mike Chaberski, Mike Linksvayer, Minh Ha Duong, Moreau Frédéric, Morphium, Nathael Pajani, Nathan Paul Simons, Nicholas Davidson, Nicola Chiapolini, Ole-Morten, Olivier Mondoloni, Paolo Innocenti, Pascal Cuoq, Patrick Camelin, Per Carlson, Philip Bolting, Philippe Gauthier, Philippe Teuwen, PJ King, Praveen Arimbrathodiyil (j4v4m4n), Ralf Zimmermann, Ray McCarthy, Rich, Rikard Westman, Robert Kosch, Sander Scheepens, Sébastien Picard, Stappers, Stavros Giannouris, Steve-David Marguet, T. Gerigk, Tanguy Ortolo, Thomas Hochstein, Thomas Müller, Thomas Pierson, Tigran Zakoyan, Tobias Gruetzmacher, Tournier Simon, Trans-IP Internet Services, Viktor Ekmark, Vincent Demeester, Vincent van Adrighem, Volker Schlecht, Werner Kuballa, Xavier Neys, and Yazid Cassam Sulliman.