Ubuntu Wiki

Quickly is a tool for creating new applications from scratch. For more information, see the Quickly guide.

If your app is written in Quickly, run:

quickly tutorial ubuntu-application

for details on how to release to your PPA with a single command.

Fixes for Extras Apps

NOTE: most of the issues here have been addressed in the latest version of Quickly. Generally the quickly submitubuntu or quickly package --extras should take care of them for you. Follow these instructions only if you've got an unresolved issue with those commands.

Currently, apps packaged with Quickly need several changes before the ARB can publish them. Quickly is a little behind the current ARB requirements, but will be updated in future releases. These are the files that need to be edited:

myapp.desktop.in

Change the file path for Exec, by adding "/opt/extras.ubuntu.com/myapp/" before the app binary.

debian/changelog

Quickly will make a number of entries in this file. For release, these need to be collapsed down into one entry. Add the string "-0extras12.04.1" to the version number, and make sure the target is the current release, "precise". The file will look something like this:

myapp (0.1-0extras12.04.1) precise; urgency=low

  * New release.

 -- My Name <myname@example.com>  Sun, 01 Apr 2012 21:26:25 +0530

debian/compat

This file contains a single number, change it from "6" to "8".

debian/control

Update the debhelper version in Build-Depends to "8". Remove cdbs and python-support from Build-Depends. (You can see the dh_python2 transition guide for more details on why python-support is no longer used.) Update the Standards-Version to 3.9.3. Remove the lines for XS-Python-Version and XB-Python-Version. Add the required metadata for the Software Center: XB-AppName, XB-Icon, XB-Screenshot-URL, and XB-Category (see the packaging quick start guide for more details on these)

debian/copyright

Change Format-Specification: to Format: and update the URL to the current version of the spec "http://www.debian.org/doc/packaging-manuals/copyright-format/1.0/"

Change Name: to Upstream-Name:. Change Maintainer: to Upstream-Contact:.

Delete the extra Copyright: lines, leaving only one. It should show the years, your name, and your email address.

Duplicate the License: line, with an extra line between the two.

The final file should look something like this example:

Format: http://www.debian.org/doc/packaging-manuals/copyright-format/1.0/
Upstream-Name: myapp
Upstream-Contact: My Name <myname@example.com>
Source: https://code.launchpad.net/~myname/+junk/extras-myapp-oneiric

Files: *
Copyright: 2011-2012 My Name <myname@example.com>
License: GPL-3.0+

License: GPL-3.0+
 This program is free software...

debian/rules

Completely replace the contents of the debian/rules file. The new file will look like this example:

PKGDIR=opt/extras.ubuntu.com/myapp

 %:
        dh $@

 override_dh_auto_install:
        dh_auto_install -- --install-lib=/$(PKGDIR)/ --install-scripts=/$(PKGDIR)/bin/ --install-data=/$(PKGDIR)/

 override_dh_gencontrol:
        dh_gencontrol
        cp data/media/myapp.png ../myapp.png
        dpkg-distaddfile myapp.png raw-meta-data -

You can see the packaging quick start guide for more details on the contents of the debian/rules file.

debian/source/format

Add a directory named "source" in the debian/ directory, and add a single text file in the directory. The text in the file is the simple string "3.0 (native)".

data/media

You need to add a PNG formatted icon for the Software Center to this directory. You can use the one you submitted to MyApps.