dpkg build package error : debian/rules clean gave error exit status 2

Question

I have tried to build the package using the command

sudo fakeroot dpkg-buildpackage -F.

And encountered these result in the ternimal.

dpkg-buildpackage: source package calender
dpkg-buildpackage: source version 1.5-1
dpkg-buildpackage: source distribution unstable
dpkg-buildpackage: source changed by Nandaraj <[email protected]>
dpkg-buildpackage: host architecture amd64
dpkg-source --before-build calender-1.5
debian/rules clean
debian/rules:18: *** missing separator.  Stop.
dpkg-buildpackage: error: debian/rules clean gave error exit status 2

My rules file is:

#!/usr/bin/make -f

icon=$(CURDIR)/calender.png
script=$(CURDIR)/calender.py
launcher=$(CURDIR)/calender.desktop
links=$(CURDIR)/links.txt

DEST1=$(CURDIR)/debian/calender/usr/share/calender
DEST2=$(CURDIR)/debian/calender/usr/share/applications

build: build-stamp

build-stamp:
    dh_testdir
    touch build-stamp

clean:
    dh_testdir
    dh_testroot
    rm -f build-stamp
    dh_clean


install: build clean $(icon) $(script) $(links) $(launcher)
    dh_testdir
    dh_testroot
    dh_prep
    dh_installdirs


    mkdir -m 755 -p $(DEST1)
    mkdir -m 755 -p $(DEST2)


    install -m 666 $(icon) $(DEST1) 
    install -m 777 $(script) $(DEST1)
    install -m 666 $(links) $(DEST1)
    install -m 777 $(launcher) $(DEST2)

binary-indep: build install
    dh_testdir
    dh_testroot
    dh_installchangelogs
    dh_installdocs
    dh_installexamples
    dh_installman
    dh_link
    dh_compress
    dh_fixperms
    dh_installdeb
    dh_gencontrol
    dh_md5sums
    dh_builddeb

# Build architecture-dependent files here.
binary-arch: build install
# We have nothing to do by default.

binary: binary-indep binary-arch
.PHONY: build clean binary-indep binary-arch binary install

And my .desktop file is:

[Desktop Entry]
Version=1.0
Type=Application
Terminal=false
Icon[en_IN]=/
Name[en_IN]=calender
Exec=/usr/share/applications/calender.py
Comment[en_IN]=program prints calender
Name=calender
Comment=program prints calender
Icon=/usr/share/calender/cal.png
Categories=Network;GTK;GNOME

Not able to build the package issue is

debian/rules:18: *** missing separator.  Stop.
dpkg-buildpackage: error: debian/rules clean gave error exit status 2

Solution 1

This can be caused by whitespace somewhere in debian/rules

For nano edit the first line of /usr/share/nano/sh.nanorc & change it to:

syntax "sh" "\.sh$" "rules"

Now when you edit debian/rules with nano the whitespace will show up as green.

Solution 2

In my case: This error message "dpkg-buildpackage: error: debian/rules clean gave error exit status 2" just means: "One of the actions in the debian/rules file fail." You should fix the real error, which usually is the error message just before this error message.

Solution 3

This is the usual error that make produces when you have spaces instead of a tab preceding the lines after a target. In this case, the target looks like clean. So, check the lines following the clean target, and see if any of them contain spaces before the beginning of the text.

Comments

[Veverke]

I have to admit I was about to flag this as not helpful, but yes, you are right. Found the real error message ;)

[Veverke]

Well, that helped for the 1st and 2nd errors. But now I stuck with this message without errors above...

[Nico Haase]

Please add some explanation to your answer such that others can learn from it

[Mhd Alaa Alhaj]

Hello and welcome to SO! While this code may answer the question, providing additional context regarding how and/or why it solves the problem would improve the answer's long-term value. Please read the tour, and How do I write a good answer?