How can I make a .deb package of Kdenlive from source in github?

Question

I'm trying to install Kdenlive from https://github.com/KDE/kdenlive. From looking Online, it seems the best way is to build a .deb package from the source and install it with the created package. But, how exactly do I go about making a .deb package from source from github?

Solution

You aren't building a deb from source here. You can read the documentation provided on the link you posted, but I will summarize here. The commands you will have to do will be as follows:

git clone https://www.github.com/KDE/kdenlive
cd kdenlive
mkdir build
cd build
cmake .. -DCMAKE_INSTALL_PREFIX=/usr/bin
make -j4
sudo make install

This will:

• Gather the source files
• Set up a build environment
• Tell the system where to install (In this case, /usr/bin so that it can be called with just kdenlive)
• Build the source into binary
• Copy the binary into the installation path so that it can be called.

If, however, you really do want to build a .deb file, you can do most of this process the same. However, before you begin, start by running:

sudo apt-get install checkinstall

Then, follow the same procedure as above. However, replace:

sudo make install

With:

sudo checkinstall

The checkinstall application monitors what was made and installed, and compiles a .deb file accordingly.

Comments

[Pilot6]

it is possible to make a deb file but it is not quite easy.

[David Foerster]

Possible duplicate of What is the simplest Debian Packaging Guide?

[maniat1k13]

read this unix.stackexchange.com/questions/30303/…

[Admin]

If you don't want to keep the source files around after building, you can do rm -r kdenlive to delete them.

[David Foerster]

-1 This doesn't answer the question how to create a Debian package from the source code.

[Admin]

@DavidFoerster However, it does answer the question of "How can I install this from source?" The main question here was "How can I get this installed on my system?". The user had misinterpreted information and thought that building into a deb is the easiest way. I can modify to include building into a deb. EDIT: Fixed.

[psusi]

Wow, I didn't know about checkinstall. Nifty.

[Jesse]

Thanks, all. Turns out I needed quite a few development packages in order to compile the software, but once I did, everything you suggested worked like a breeze!

[David Foerster]

Ok, I'm fine with the added explanation of why OP is apparently mistaken. Downvote reversed. +1