Archive - Aug 17, 2008

How to Recompile/Repack a .deb Program.

By: Zeb Carnell

Ok so you have a program you like on your Debian GNU/Linux based system and would like to edit a menu or option or even recompile the .deb source with a new option or config. You may wonder how you can do this. Well here goes.

Build the basic development environment:

apt-get install devscripts build-essential fakeroot

This installs the necessary packages needed for most development builds in GNU/Linux.
Now you need the source code for the package you wish to repack:

apt-get source packagename

This will download the source code for the package into the directory you are currently in. So please Change Directory (cd) to the directory you want to work in. The above command also unpacks the tar file for you into that directory, so now for you to edit the source code you need to cd into the source folder:

Hello, all.

pyNeighborhood is a really great program that allows you to access your local network, mounting and unmounting shared folders so that you can access them from your computer. It works with both Windows and Linux shares, and requires no command line input. It is available in the repositories, but requires a little bit of setup to get working properly. I just got it set up and working on my computer, so here is my how to to get pyNeighborhood up and running properly.

Step One: Install pyNeighborhood

Open up Synaptic Package Manager and do a search for samba. Mark pyNeighborhood, samba-common, smbclient, and smbfs for install.

Apply changes and close the package manager.

Step Two: Create a Folder for Mounting Shares

Source: http://news.zdnet.co.uk/software/0,1000000121,39461788,00.htm?r=1

The Linux Foundation has released a guide for developers who wish to contribute Linux code.

A guide to the kernel development process aims to encourage participation by new programmers by explaining what's involved. Some developers and businesses attempting to submit changes to the Linux kernel find themselves tangled up with the processes used, according to the guide, which was written by Jonathan Corbet, executive editor of lwn.net and himself a Linux developer.

"A developer who does not understand the kernel community's ways (or, worse, who tries to flout or circumvent them) will have a frustrating experience in store," Corbet warned.

<!--paging_filter-->The International Organization for Standardization (ISO) and International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC) have given the green light to publish the Microsoft-backed Office Open XML (OOXML) specification after organization leaders rejected appeals from four countries to protest the vote that approved OOXML as a standard.

The ISO and IEC technical boards approved the publication of ISO/IEC DIS 29500, the official name for the OOXML specification, the ISO said Friday. The spec is expected to be published within the next few weeks after the standards bodies complete the final processing of the document, provided there are no further appeals against the decision.

http://www.itwire.com/content/view/20064/53/

Like all teenagers it can be temperamental, and always capable of annoying the middle-aged mainstream. As Debian turns 15 today, iTWire says HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!!

August 16th, 1993 is the date when the Debian Project was officially founded. A new Linux distribution at a time when Linux distributions were scarce enough. A distribution that was open to every developer and user as far as contributions when was unique.