This article describes how to build, sign and upload Debian packages for 3rd party Linux software.
You can create zip
/tar
files as packages for Linux, but Debian packages (.deb
) are much more recommendable. They stand out for being:
-
Rock-steady and foolproof, installation-wise.
.deb
packages have dependency handling, meaning that missing packages are automatically installed, and you cannot uninstall them unless you uninstall the main package. In comparison,zip
/tar
files do not offer dependency handling, meaning that the installation fails if certain packages are removed, and they are difficult to uninstall because you cannot control where the files go when unpacking. -
Installable in one single command line.