View source for Development/Tutorials/Deploying Qt Ruby Applications as a Debian packages for Kubuntu

'''Deploying Qt Ruby Applications as a Debian packages for Kubuntu''' 

NNB:&nbsp;This is a draft document!!! The tutorial is not fit for use yet!<br> 

= Introduction  =

To share your wonderful application with others you need to have package it up in a standard format. Packaging up Ruby applications for Linux distributions is something that is historically a bit of a controversial subject. One reason for this is that the Debian-based package management software in Kubuntu, <tt>apt</tt>, fills a similar role as <tt>rubygems</tt>, the package management software for Ruby across all Operating Systems. In Linux distros, the File Hierarchy Standards (FHS) mandates a layout for applications to adhere to so that an application's libraries, configs and documentation go in the right place. This is sometimes difficult for Ruby applications. However, fear not! Here's your guide to getting from developers Ruby app to a Debian package. We are going to build from scratch.

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= But first a special thanks... =
... to Horst Jens for this wonderful video on packaging a simple Python application, which we've used as the basis for our Qt Ruby packaging efforts here [http://showmedo.com/videotutorials/video?name=linuxJensMakingDeb Ubuntu: Making a .deb package out of a python program]. It's highly recommended that you check out this video to help you understand what's going on. You can watch it before or after using this article. Or refer to it from time to time.

= Our starting point =
We will start with the application that we have left over as part of another article in the KDE Techbase Ruby series at [[Development/Tutorials/Developing Qt4 Applications using Qt Designer and Ruby on Kubuntu|Developing Qt4 Applications using Qt Designer and Ruby on Kubuntu]]. If you don't want to go to the hassle of running through that guide you can download the source code here as a tarred zip file ***PROVIDE LINK***.

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= Install the Appropriate Packages =

Fortunately there's tools to help you out on your mission. The <tt>dh-make</tt> suite on Kubuntu contains utilities to help you build your Debian package. Install as follows

<syntaxhighlight lang="bash">sudo aptitude install dh-make</syntaxhighlight> 

= Get Your Application Structure into Shape  =

Ok, so as we said earlier the FHS mandates a particular structure for our application. We need to put our app on a diet and fit it into this structure! I'm not a 100% sure on this bit it works but will can flesh it out as this article matures. I have a simple app called benchmarksman and this is the structure I've used to try to be FHS compliant 

***TODO*** CHANGE THIS CODE SAMPLE TO USE THE APP FROM THE PREVIOUS ARTICLE

<syntaxhighlight lang="bash">
bin/
   benchmarksman             # My top level file that kicks off the app.
lib/
   benchmarksman/
       breaker.rb            # Holds a class Breaker that does domain logic.
       application/
          main.rb            # Once the app is kicked off this is called
       ui/                   # Directory holding Qt4 Designer files.
          dashboard.ui       # The Qt4 Designer file (can prob nuke this!).
          dashboard_ui.rb    # The proxy rb file generated by rbuic4.
       view/                 # Directory holding presentation logic classes.
          dashboard.rb       # Subclasses dashboard_ui.rb - my presentation.
</syntaxhighlight> 


= Useful Resources =
* [http://wiki.showmedo.com/index.php/LinuxJensMakingDeb Wiki full of handy resources to accompany Horst Jens' video tutorial mentioned earlier]
* [http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=51003 Howto make debian standard debs from scratch (Ubuntu Forums)]
* [https://wiki.ubuntu.com/PackagingGuide/Complete Packaging Guides on Ubuntu Wiki]
* [http://www.theirishpenguin.com/2009/09/09/packaging-ruby-apps-for-ubuntu-dissecting-an-existing-ruby-ubuntu-package/ Packaging Ruby Apps for Ubuntu: Dissecting an existing Ruby Ubuntu Package]

= Obsolete Notes =
* Fortunately there's tools to help you out on your mission. The <tt>ruby-pkg-tools</tt> suite on Kubuntu contains utilities to help you build your Debian packagd. More info on it is available at this [http://pkg-ruby-extras.alioth.debian.org/ruby-pkg-tools/index.html link].

*Download setup.rb - A script that does the hard work so you don't have to (do too much!)  =

*Click the Download Latest link at http://i.loveruby.net/en/projects/setup/