How to use pbuilder

pbuilder is a tool to use debootstrap for automatic package building. Confused already? :) debootstrap is a tools to create a Debian inside a Debian. Imagine you run Sid (the "unstable" branch of Debian) and want to build a package for the stable branch Sarge. Then you can use debootstrap to install Sarge below a directory in your file system. When it's done you use chroot to get there and presto you are in a Sarge environment.

pbuilder automates this process by created such a debootstrapped Debian and building a package in there. This serves two purposes:

Currently the debootstrap tool is a bit broken for Sid so you need to first create a pbuilder (which is contained in a file called base.tgz) for Sarge...

pbuilder create --distribution sarge --mirror http://www.artfiles.org/debian.org

...and then upgrade it to sid...

pbuilder update --override-config --mirror http://www.artfiles.org/debian.org --distribution sid

(Before you run the second line make sure your /etc/pbuilderrc sets DISTRIBUTION=sid).

WorkaroundOrg: HowToUsePbuilder (last edited 2005-07-12 20:22:29 by ChristophHaas)