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Debian New Maintainers' Guide
Chapter 7 - Checking the package for errors


Run lintian(1) on your .changes file; this program will check for many common packaging errors. The command is:

       lintian -i gentoo_0.9.12-1_i386.changes

Of course, replace the filename with the name of the .changes file generated for your package. If it appears that there are some errors (lines beginning with E:), read the explanation (the N: lines), correct mistakes, and rebuild as described in Complete rebuild, Section 6.1. If there are lines that begin with W:, those are warnings, so tune the package or verify that the warnings are spurious (and make Lintian overrides; see the documentation for details).

Note that you can build the package with dpkg-buildpackage and run lintian all in one command with debuild(1).

Look inside the package using a file manager like mc(1), or unpack it in a temporary place using dpkg-deb(1). Be on the lookout for extra unneeded files, both in the binary and source package. Often cruft doesn't get cleaned up properly; adjust your rules file to compensate for that. Tips: `zgrep ^+++ ../gentoo_0.9.12-1.diff.gz` will give you a list of your changes/additions to the source files, and `dpkg-deb -c gentoo_0.9.12-1_i386.deb` will list the files in the binary package.

Install the package to test it yourself, e.g. using the debi(1) command as root. Try to install and run it on machines other than your own and watch closely for any warnings or errors both during the installation and while the program is being run.


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Debian New Maintainers' Guide

version 1.2, 6 April 2002.

Josip Rodin joy-mg@debian.org