create a .deb Package from scripts or binaries

I searched for a simple way to create .deb Packages for things which have no source code to compile (configs, shellscripts, proprietary software). This was quite a problem because most of the package tutorials are assuming you have a source tarball you want to compile. Then I've found this short tutorial (german).

Afterwards, I created a small script to create a simple repository. Like this:

rm /export/my-repository/repository/*
cd /home/tdeutsch/deb-pkg
for i in $(ls | grep my); do dpkg -b ./$i /export/my-repository/repository/$i.deb; done
cd /export/avanon-repository/repository
gpg --armor --export "My Package Signing Key" > PublicKey
apt-ftparchive packages ./ | gzip > Packages.gz
apt-ftparchive packages ./ > Packages
apt-ftparchive release ./ > /tmp/Release.tmp; mv /tmp/Release.tmp Release
gpg --output Release.gpg -ba Release

I added the key to the apt keyring and included the source like this:

deb http://my.default.com/my-repository/ ./

It looks like the repo itself is working well (I ran into some problems, to fix them I needed to add the Packages twice and make the temp-file workaround for the Release file). I also put some downloaded .deb into the repo, it looks like they are also working without problems. But my self created packages didn't... Wenn i do sudo apt-get update, they are causing errors like this:

E: Problem parsing dependency Depends
E: Error occurred while processing my-printerconf (NewVersion2)
E: Problem with MergeList /var/lib/apt/lists/my.default.com_my-repository_._Packages
E: The package lists or status file could not be parsed or opened.

Has anyone an idea what I did wrong?

UPDATE 2012-03-06: Just a a hint for another person who is searching for a easy way to create DEBs: Take a look at FPM.

The tutorial you have linked uses a low level approach for building a package. Such an approach is not usually recommended and may lead to all sorts of issues when not done carefully.

Creating a .deb for a script is very simple once you understand packaging basics. In a nutshell:

# Configure your paths and filenames
SOURCEBINPATH=~
SOURCEBIN=myscript.sh
DEBFOLDER=~/somescripts
DEBVERSION=0.1

DEBFOLDERNAME=$DEBFOLDER-$DEBVERSION

# Create your scripts source dir
mkdir $DEBFOLDERNAME

# Copy your script to the source dir
cp $SOURCEBINPATH/$SOURCEBIN $DEBFOLDERNAME 
cd $DEBFOLDERNAME

# Create the packaging skeleton (debian/*)
dh_make -s --indep --createorig 

# Remove make calls
grep -v makefile debian/rules > debian/rules.new 
mv debian/rules.new debian/rules 

# debian/install must contain the list of scripts to install 
# as well as the target directory
echo $SOURCEBIN usr/bin > debian/install 

# Remove the example files
rm debian/*.ex

# Build the package.
# You  will get a lot of warnings and ../somescripts_0.1-1_i386.deb
debuild

Adding more scripts requires them to be copied to the directory and added to the debian/install file -- then just re-run debuild. You should also check and update the debian/* files as required .

You should read the man pages for: dh_make, dh_install, and debuild