[MonoDevelop] Re. "External Tools" and Linux packaging

[David Lechner]

On 7/24/2013 2:30 PM, Barry Block wrote:
> Secondly, I'd like to be able to produce a Debian package of my GTK
> desktop application and with that in mind, which makefile type should I
> choose--"simple makefile" or "autotools based makefile"?  I realize that
> MD doesn't directly generate Debian packages but I'm guessing that one
> makefile generation option might be better than the other given my
> goal.  Any thoughts?

My suggestions is neither. The debian packaging tools have a cli plugin 
for working with managed code. I use xbuild (mono's clone of msbuild). 
This way, you just use your .sln or .csproj files and don't have to 
create any additional make files. There is some automatic generation of 
dependencies using these tools.

> BTW, I'm a Linux packaging newb, in case it's not
> already obvious.  That said, in the past, I've managed to produce a
> binary .deb file for my application but I've always had a real difficult
> time determining its dependencies. At the very least, I'm hopeful that
> either of the two makefile options will at least resolve this issue for
> me...  Thanks, and once again, great job on the 3.0 release of MD!

I guess you could say that I am whatever comes after noob. Advanced noob 
maybe? Anyway, I have successfully created and published a few packages 
for KeePass 2.x plugins, which are all C# based. You can find the code 
at <https://code.launchpad.net/~dlech>. Everything there falls into this 
category. They are a little different since they are plugins and not 
stand alone programs (no .desktop file, etc.) but I think they could be 
useful to you. Also, keep in mind that these are source packages rather 
than binary packages, so all the good stuff is in the debian/ directory.

You can also look at the Tomboy and Banshee packages. These are the 
flagship mono programs on linux and are GTK like your program. I think 
that they are using autotools though instead of xbuild. 
<https://launchpad.net/banshee/+packages> and 
<https://launchpad.net/tomboy/+packages>

Also, here the pages I have found the most useful for learning debian 
packaging:
- <http://developer.ubuntu.com/packaging/html/> The ubuntu tools make it 
super easy if you are on an ubuntu distro
- <http://www.debian.org/doc/debian-policy/> The debian packaging bible
- <http://pkg-mono.alioth.debian.org/cli-policy/> Mono specific stuff 
for debian packages