Backport FreeType

Versioning

Backporting dar is quite simple - you just need to recompile the Lenny version in a Etch environment. It's a nice occasion to cover the very basics.

You need to modify debian/changelog though. Enter the freetype-2.3.5 directory, and type:

dch -i

If you want to use another editor, you can also:

EDITOR=emacs dch -i

To generate the initial changelog entry template, madduck suggests using dch and dpkg-parsechangelog, e.g.:

dch -D etch-backports -b -v$(dpkg-parsechangelog | sed -ne 's,^Version: ,,p')~bpo40+1 -- \
  "Rebuild for Debian Backports <http://www.backports.org/>"

Here's my final changelog entry:

freetype (2.3.5-1~bpo40+1) etch-backports; urgency=low

  * Rebuild for Debian Backports <http://www.backports.org/>
    (new version works with SDL_ttf, previous one was buggy)

 -- Sylvain Beucler <beuc@beuc.net>  Mon, 10 Dec 2007 12:46:10 +0100

What did I do?

• Changed version according to bpo convention, -debian_version~bpo.1, so:
  • the testing version was: 2.3.5-1
  • dch proposes by default -debian_version+1: 2.3.5-2
  • I use ORIGINALVERSION~bpoDEBIANVERSION+BACKPORTVERSION: 2.3.5-1~bpo40+1 (Etch is version 4.0)
• Changed distribution from unstable to etch-backports
• Added a terse explanation
• Check my mail adress.

Also add your name in debian/control:

Uploaders: ..., Sylvain Beucler <beuc@beuc.net>

so the package will appear in your QA page.

Then, in the freetype-2.3.5 directory, start the compilation.

debuild -us -uc

Using the -sa debuild option: not necessary: by default, if the version ends with '0' or '1' (as 'bpo40+1' does), dpkg-buildpackage uses the existing source release (the .orig.tar.gz file must be present in the parent directory, though).

Installation

Now you can test your dar package:

sudo dpkg -i libfreetype6_2.3.5-1~bpo40+1_i386.deb

Check your changes

Check your changes using interdiff:

mkdir tmp
cd tmp
cp ../freetype*.diff.gz .
gunzip *
interdiff freetype_2.3.5-1.diff freetype_2.3.5-1~bpo40+1.diff

If you see some source changes that you didn't do, then your backport is not clean (probably it's a leftover from an incomplete make clean). Usually, just remove the current directory and extract a new clean one using dpkg-source.