There are multiple ways to build a package, each with advantages and disadvantages. Which one you choose will depend on your circumstances.
This is by far the easiest method:
git ubuntu build --source -v --sign
Git ubuntu will automatically try to detect which Ubuntu release the build needs, based on the package's changelog file, but you can always specify an image directly, like this:
git ubuntu build --source -v --sign --lxd-image ubuntu-daily:bionic
This will download the LXD image if needed, start a container, build the packages, copy them to ../ and shut down.
This method will directly install any dependencies it needs to build, so it's recommended to create an LXD container to do the build. Replace bionic with the container image you wish to use.
From within the package repository:
lxc launch ubuntu-daily:bionic builder &&
sleep 5 &&
lxc exec builder -- mkdir -p /root/build/package &&
tar cf - . | lxc exec builder -- tar xf - -C /root/build/package &&
lxc exec builder -- sh -c 'apt update &&
apt dist-upgrade -y &&
apt install -y ubuntu-dev-tools &&
cd /root/build &&
pull-debian-source -d $(grep "Source: " package/debian/control | sed "s/Source: \(.*\)/\1/g") $(grep "unstable; urgency=" package/debian/changelog |grep -v ubuntu|head -1|sed "s/.*(\(.*\)).*/\1/g") &&
cd /root/build/package &&
apt build-dep -y ./ &&
dpkg-buildpackage -S' &&
lxc exec builder -- tar cf - --exclude=package -C /root/build . | tar xf - -C .. &&
lxc delete -f builder
In order for a source package to be accepted by Launchpad, it must be signed. You can sign it manually with debsign (within the package folder):
debsign ../$(grep "Source: " debian/control | sed "s/Source: \(.*\)/\1/g")_$(grep "urgency=" debian/changelog|head -1|sed "s/.*(\(.*\)).*/\1/g")_source.changes
This is by far the easiest method, and will build on your local machine.
From within the package repository:
$ git ubuntu build -v
Other flags are similar to git ubuntu build --source.
Launchpad can build binary packages from your signed source packages and store them in PPA archives. This is especially useful because reviewers of your merge proposal will have a ready binary to test from. The disadvantage is that during busy times, it can take awhile for your package to come up in the build queue.
For the PPA, we need to change the version in the changelog that's lower than the version we plan to release. Since the tilde ~ character sorts lower than everything else in launchpad, we can simply append ~ppa1 to the version string in debian/changelog. For example:
-postfix (3.3.0-1ubuntu0.1) bionic; urgency=medium
+postfix (3.3.0-1ubuntu0.1~ppa1) bionic; urgency=medium
Note: If you're using git-ubuntu to build the source package, you must first create a commit with the changed version string using a dummy commit message like "ppa1", but do not git push this commit!
Go to your launchpad page (https://launchpad.net/~your-username) and click "Create a new PPA". Give it a name such that you'll remember what it's about in a few months. A useful form is release-package-issue-launchpad_bug
For example:
- URL: bionic-postfix-postconf-segfault-1753470
- Display name: bionic-postfix-postconf-segfault-1753470
- Description: (leave it empty)
Now click "Activate".
It is also helpful to enable all architectures to ensure no build regressions were introduced. Do so by clicking on Change Details in the newly created PPA page, and then selecting the other architectures.
$ dput ppa:kstenerud/bionic-postfix-postconf-segfault-1753470 ../bionic-postfix_3.3.0-1ubuntu0.1~ppa1_source.changes
When it finishes, you should be able to see it e.g. https://launchpad.net/~kstenerud/+archive/ubuntu/bionic-postfix-postconf-segfault-1753470/+packages
Note: You must wait for the package to build server-side before you can use the PPA to install packages. This might take time depending on how busy things are!