ThinkFOSS2.0

A hands-on session to give audience the basic idea of packaging free software for Debian

Outline

Packaging of software makes it easier to handle - considering installation, removal, updation and upgradation. Debian maintains a huge number of Free Softwares in its repositories. The purpose of this session is to introduce the audience how to package a free software (probably a Ruby gem) so that it can be added to Debian repos for users to simple apt-get it.

We will be focussing on packaging of Ruby gems, along with explaining the general way of packaging, that are used in projects like Diaspora, GitLab etc.

Requirements

Debian GNU/Linux (Unstable recommended, Testing OK, Can make it work even with Stable), a mind to ask questions and to learn.

Install the packages : build-essential, devscripts, debhelper, gem2deb

PS : Even Ubuntu is acceptable.

Speaker bio

In the basic level, Balasankar C is a Free Software enthusiast and evangelist. He is also a Debian Maintainer and is currently maintaining several Ruby packages related to Diaspora and GitLab and a few other FOSS packages. He has been mentoring people via online (and offline, sometimes) on packaging.

He is also an active member of Swathanthra Malayalam Computing, the largest language-related Free Software Community in India. His areas of contribution involve Localization of several projects like GNOME (where he was a Foundation Member), Mozilla, Diaspora etc. He is also an administrator of Malayalam Wikisource and the Diaspora Pod - Poddery