learning how to deploy packages to Debian and Arch because WSL exists…

debian

this encapsulates the debugging process 🥲

• debian uses .deb files
  • these .deb files, when hosted through reprepro can be downloaded via the apt package manager, which makes it available to ubuntu and other apt dependent distros

use case

i already have the built ELF executable, i just need to publish it as a .deb through Github Actions

prerequisites

• binary executables for x86 and ARM architectures
• devscripts installed on machine generating the .deb script
• VM with debian to test the setup to avoid major installation windows

high-level packaging process

at a high-level, packaging for debian involves the following:

• folder name: package-version/
• within the folder, include the files/dependencies/executables for the .deb file
• set of source files to tell the packaging tool, debuild , what to look for
• build the .deb
• setup an individual PPA repository using reprepro
• publish the .deb for both arm64 and amd64 to the reprepro
• .deb can be installed directly via sudo dpkg -i <name>.deb

flowchart TD
	a[generate arm64 ELF]
	b[generate amd64 ELF]
	a --> c[upload artifact]
	b --> d[upload artifact]
	c --> e[trigger publish]
	d --> e
	e --> f[generate Debian package structure and build .deb for arm64]
	e --> g[generate Debian package structure and build .deb for amd64]
	f --> h[call external workflow to publish to reprepro hosted on Github Pages]
	g --> h
	h --> i[setup repo/conf for PPA, sign both .deb, and publish]