[Pkg-firebird-general] Compiling fb 1.0.3 on woody

Remco Seesink raseesink@hotpop.com
Mon, 7 Jun 2004 00:39:07 +0200


Hi,

> To make sure I should belong here, I was trying to compile fb1.5 on 
> woody (but I think it will need sarge).
You could even be usefull if you couldn't get it to compile at all. However
being able to recompile existing packages you download from somewhere would
be very handy. It is not hard, I'll explain later.

I personally run sarge. It will build there without problems. For producing
official .debs you need to build on sid (unstable) but I could take care of that.

If you don't have an extra box for sarge/sid and are unwilling to upgrade there
is a nice alternative. You can install debian in a chroot. It is a lot easier
than it sounds.

> But before I tried upgrading my woody to sarge, I thought I'll just try 
> recompiling 1.0.3.
> 
> I've installed the fb1.0.3 source.
> 
> Now the trick is fb1.0 needs an already installed version of firebird to 
> be able to build (it's a dumb compile the compiler trick, popular way 
> back then).
This is solved in the debian package by using the boot kit.

> $apt-get install firebird
> E: Couldn't find package firebird.
> 
> 
> Im guessing this is becuase the package seems to have been removed.
> http://bugs.debian.org/cgi-bin/bugreport.cgi?bug=237532
> 
> Is that so, and how can I
> a) get the package reinstated, and/or
> b) find a .deb package to install.

This is because the package is not in woody. See:
http://packages.debian.org/cgi-bin/search_packages.pl?keywords=firebird&searchon=names&subword=1&version=all&release=all

If you really want to try to build it on woody  (upgrading or chroot is better)
best thing is to start with my updated packages. They are not yet in the debian
archive. You can download these files:

http://mentors.debian.net/debian/pool/main/f/firebird/firebird_1.0.3-0mentors1.diff.gz
http://mentors.debian.net/debian/pool/main/f/firebird/firebird_1.0.3-0mentors1.dsc
http://mentors.debian.net/debian/pool/main/f/firebird/firebird_1.0.3.orig.tar.gz

type:
dpkg-source -x firebird_1.0.3-0mentors1.dsc (this will unpack and apply debian changes)
cd firebird-1.0.3
debuild

debuild will complain is build dependencies are wrong. try to install them with apt-get
and try again. On woody you won't be able to do them all, but as I just tested it will
still produce .debs. Type debuild -d to override that check.

I don't know if it will casue troubles when installing.

And basically that is it. When it is done you end up with a bunch of .deb files.

> PS: Im fairly good a linux, but come from a mandrake/redhat background, 
> last serious debian install I used was a 1.2 version, but it was all CD 
> based and I wasn't the sysadmin.
I heard the beta of debian-installer is very good, you might want to give it a try.

If you want to hear more about how to install into a chroot just ask.

> So Im likely to ask some really basic questions.
Don't worry but if you do you can always mail me in private.

Cheers,
Remco Seesink.