How To Package Gambas

NOTE: The last version of this documents is at http://gambasdoc.org/help/howto/package.

This file won't explain you how to make the packages, but the structure they must follow.

Gambas must be packaged the way described in this document, because the development environment relies on this structure when it creates a package of a gambas project.

If a distribution does not follow this requirement, then the packages generated by the development environment won't be able to be installed, and the user will be very unhappy.

Not all distributions make correct gambas binary packages at the moment. So, if you are a packager from these distributions, and if you read this text, please try to help Gambas work on your distribution.

Thanks in advance,

Benoît.

SPECIFICATIONS FOR GAMBAS 1.0.x

Gambas binary packages must follow the following names and contents:

The runtime package

This package includes the Gambas interpreter needed to run Gambas applications.

It contains:

Its name must be gambas-runtime.

The component packages

Each  component must have its own package.

The package of a component contains:

The name of a component package MUST BE gambas-gb-XXX where gb-XXX is the name of the component, where the point were replaced by a minus sign.

For example, the gb.qt.ext component package name is gambas-gb-qt-ext.

SPECIFICATIONS FOR GAMBAS 1.9.x

WARNING: These specifications can change before the release of the final version.

At the moment, the specifications are almost the same, except that lib.XXX.component files were renamed as XXX.component, and that now a component can have a part written in Gambas.

Gambas binary packages must follow the following name and contents:

The runtime package

This package includes the Gambas interpreter needed to run Gambas applications.

It contains:

Note that gb.la, gb.so, gb.so.0 and gb.so.0.0.0 do not need to be distributed. They are temporary files used for generating gb.info and gb.list only.

Its name must be gambas2-runtime.

The development package

This package includes all tools needed to compile Gambas projects without having to install the complete development environment.

It contains:

Its name must be gambas2-devel.

The component packages

Each gambas component must have its own package.

The package of a component contains:

...where gb.XXX is the name of the component

Then name of a component package MUST BE gambas2-gb-XXX where gb-XXX is the name of the component, the point being replaced by a minus sign.

For example, the gb.qt component package name is gambas2-gb-qt. It must include:

Some component are entirely written in Gambas, i.e. they have only a Gambas part. These components are located in the comp directory of the source archive.

You must follow the previous rules for these components, except that there is no shared library files inside.

Note that gb.debug and gb.eval do not have their own package, as they are distributed with the gambas2-runtime package.

The development environment package

This package includes the complete Gambas Development Environment, with the database manager, the help files, and all components.

It contains:

It depends on the following Gambas packages: Its name must be gambas2-ide.

WARNING!

The IDE relies on the following external tools:

So you must add the dependencies on the packages that provide these tools. The name of these packages depends on the distribution.

For example, on Mandriva, they are: