[Pkg-phototools-devel] Upgrading ligbphoto2-dev on a Pi??

[Greig Sheridan]

Thanks Feri, that's been very enlightening. I'll do some more experimenting and see what I can come up with.

In the meantime I'll hold out for the Pi people to formally release Bullseye.


Regards,



Greig,
0402 033 044.

-----Original Message-----
From: Ferenc Wagner,,, <wferi at niif.hu> 
Sent: Sunday, 10 October 2021 2:49 AM
To: Greig Sheridan <gs at gisyd.com>
Cc: Ferenc Wagner,,, <wferi at niif.hu>; pkg-phototools-devel at lists.alioth.debian.org
Subject: Re: [Pkg-phototools-devel] Upgrading ligbphoto2-dev on a Pi??

Greig Sheridan <gs at gisyd.com> writes:

>> If the memory isn't too tight, it should be possible to rebuild natively.
>
> My challenge is that I can't find how to build a 'development headers'
> version.

"Building a Debian package" means building a source package, which can result in several binary packages.  For example, as
https://tracker.debian.org/pkg/libgphoto2 shows, the libgphoto2 source package produces five "binaries", one of which contains the "development headers".  This is a subset of the build artifacts, not a "version".

> I've tried this script<https://github.com/gonzalo/gphoto2-updater> and 
> "Install libgphoto2 and gphoto2 from source on Raspberry Pi 
> <https://hyfrmn.wordpress.com/2015/02/03/install-libgphoto2-and-gphoto2-from-source-on-raspberry-pi/>"
> to roll my own build, but those seem to leave me with a vanilla 
> version, where I still need development headers for my downstream 
> compatibility.

These recipes should install the development header files as well, but they do so without informing the package system of your OS.

>> Debian "unstable" get more or less regular uploads when new upstream 
>> versions are released.  These are migrated to "testing" a couple of 
>> days later (typically).  A new Debian release means that "testing" is 
>> renamed to "stable", so the version in the Debian stable release is 
>> frozen.
>
> When bullseye becomes the latest stable release for the Pi, past 
> performance suggests it will only have one build of libgphoto-dev for 
> its entire lifespan as the stable release.

Basically yes, Debian bullseye contains libgphoto version 2.5.27.  The only possible changes are fixes for serious errors (unlikely).

> That's the problem I've hit with buster, and I expect will hit again 
> in 12-18 months when new cameras have been added to the libgphoto 
> project, but without any updated builds of libgphoto-dev (or I can 
> figure out how to DIY) it will be trapped in February 2021 with the 
> functionality from v2.5.27.

Yes.  This is what stable OS releases do.  Some other options are:

1. using Debian unstable or testing (reasonable for development only); 2. asking for a backport when the situation becomes unbearable (see
   https://backports.debian.org/);
3. rebuilding the unstable packages as necessary (that is, making your
   own backports);
4. building libgphoto from source and using it without any packaging
   whatsoever;
5. using some other distribution with a release cadence more suitable
   for your purposes.
--
Regards,
Feri