[Pkg-privacy-maintainers] Bug#859121: RFP: genmkfile - Generic Makefile

[Patrick Schleizer]

Package: wnpp
Severity: wishlist
X-Debbugs-CC: pkg-privacy-maintainers at lists.alioth.debian.org

* Package name    : genmkfile
  Version         : 4.0
  Upstream Author : Patrick Schleizer <adrelanos at riseup.net>
* URL             : https://github.com/Whonix/genmkfile
* License         : GPL-3+
  Programming Lang: bash and make
  Description     : Generic Makefile

long description:

Makes packaging scripts simpler. No more need to manually maintain 'make
install' targets or distribution specific install files such as
debian/pkg-name.install.

Files in etc/... in root source folder will be installed to /etc/...,
files in usr/... will be installed to /usr/... and so forth. This should
make renaming, moving files around, packaging, etc. very simple.
Packaging of most packages can look very similar.

Provides common make targets such as 'make install'. Very extensible
through file ./make-helper-overrides.bsh or folder
./make-helper-overrides.d. By using overrides, any make target can be
easily extended using pre or post hooks or replaced.

Contains a minimal Makefile while the heavy lifting is done by a bash
script make-helper.bsh.

use case:

onion-grater would be a great addition to Debian because it would
improve usability for users that use applications using Tor's ControlPort.

onion-grater is a Tor ControlPort filter written by anonym (Tails
project) that has been packaged by Patrick Schleizer (Whonix project).
The packaged version of onion-grater depends on genmkfile.

stability:

The genmkfile package has been used by the Whonix project for years to
package more than 100 deb packages.

packaging effort:

Hopefully very little. The /debian folder has already been implemented
and long term tested. The package is lintian --pedantic clean. Since the
package is rather simple, no compiled code, just scripts, it should be
already reproducible. Ideally, a Debian Developer could easily build it
and upload to Debian. Please tell me if any changes are required to make
it fit for inclusion into Debian.

license file:

https://github.com/Whonix/genmkfile/blob/master/debian/copyright

building:

Should be as simple as three commands. apt-get installing the build and
runtime dependencies, creating an upstream tarball and then create a deb
package.

make dist

sudo apt-get --yes --no-install-recommends install debhelper devscripts
strip-nondeterminism fakeroot perl make dpkg-dev sudo perl

dpkg-buildpackage

Cheers,
Patrick
(genmkfile upstream author)