An easy way to create .deb packages for BusyBox

mkdeb.sh

#!/bin/bash
# Geo. Naumov

set -e 

# OPTIONS
OUTPUTDIR="${HOME}/mypackages"		# where your output packages will be placed
STAGINGDIR="${HOME}/mystaging"		# where the work is done
PKGARCH="amd64" 			# edit this, uname -m won't work
PKGDESC="Created with mkdeb.sh" 	# Under development :)
MAINTAINER="test@example.com"		# edit this
# DON'T EDIT BELOW THIS LINE

help_me () {
	echo "DPKG CREATOR"
	echo "A easy way to create .deb packages"
	echo
	echo "Usage:"
	echo "./mkdeb.sh name version section dir"
	echo
	echo "Where:"
	echo "name	- is the name of your package, example: testapp"
	echo "version	- is the version id of your package, example: 1.1.1"
	echo "section	- is the section of your package, example: tools"
	echo "dir	- is the directory containing the files you want to pack"
	echo
	echo "Notes:"
	echo " * All arguments are compulsory."
	echo " * There are 3 extra dpkg tags, architecture, description and maintainer. Modify these by editing this script."
	echo " * Architecture can be easily determined automatically, but by default Debian requires amd64 instead of x86_64, so this variable had to be hardcoded."
	echo
	echo "Hardcoded variables and their values:"
	echo "Architecture is ${PKGARCH}"
	echo "Maintainer is ${MAINTAINER}"
	echo "Output directory is ${OUTPUTDIR}"
	echo 
}

clean_up () {
	echo "Cleaning up..."
	rm -rf $STAGINGDIR
	rm -rf $INSTALLDIR  # This command is executed only if you call the function after a successfull run, else the variable is not set yet.
}

if [[ $1 == "clean" ]]; then 
	clean_up
	exit
fi

if [ $# -ne 4 ]; then
    help_me
    exit 1
fi

PKGNAME=$1
PKGVERSION=$2
PKGTAG=$3
INSTALLDIR=$(realpath $4)
OUTNAME=$OUTPUTDIR/$1-$2-$3-$PKGARCH.deb

mkdir -pv $OUTPUTDIR
mkdir -pv $STAGINGDIR

if [ ! -d $OUTPUTDIR ]; then
	echo "Output directory missing or cannot be created!"
	exit
fi

if [ ! -d $INSTALLDIR ]; then
	echo "Install directory is missing, you are supposed to have an installation there!"
	exit
fi

if [ -z "$(ls -A $INSTALLDIR)" ]; then
   echo "Your install directory is empty, cannot create an empty package!"
   exit
fi

if [ "$(ls -A $STAGINGDIR)" ]; then
   echo "Your staging directory is not empty, clean it up or choose a different location!"
   exit
fi

cd $INSTALLDIR

echo "Stripping"
# From https://github.com/ChrisSaturn/dpkg-wrapper/blob/master/fixups/50strip.sh
find $INSTALLDIR -type f |
	while read f; do
	case "$(file --brief $f)" in
	    ELF*executable*,\ not\ stripped | \
	    ELF*shared\ object*,\ not\ stripped)
		strip --strip-unneeded $f ;;
	    current\ ar\ archive)
		strip --strip-debug $f ;;
	esac
done

echo "Creating data archive"
tar zcf $STAGINGDIR/data.tar.gz ./

echo "Creating control file"
mkdir -pv $STAGINGDIR/controldir
cd $STAGINGDIR/controldir
echo "Package: ${PKGNAME}" >> control
echo "Version: ${PKGVERSION}" >> control
echo "Maintainer: ${MAINTAINER}" >> control
echo "Section: ${PKGTAG}" >> control
echo "Architecture: ${PKGARCH}" >> control
echo "Description: ${PKGDESC}" >> control

echo "Creating control archive"
tar zcf $STAGINGDIR/control.tar.gz ./
cd $STAGINGDIR

echo "Creating dpkg version file"
echo 2.0 > debian-binary

ar r $OUTNAME debian-binary control.tar.gz data.tar.gz

echo "Package $OUTNAME created."
clean_up
echo "Done."

Awesome