Debian Directory

Mysterious.

Chapter 5: https://www.debian.org/doc/manuals/maint-guide/dother.en.html

Chapter 6: https://www.debian.org/doc/manuals/maint-guide/build.en.html

Here's what you do:

Start by installing debhelper:

apt-get install debhelper dh-make

Now go to the directory level where the debian/ directory is located. ls debian should show you the contents of the debian directory (source, rules, etc.).

Now run the command to build the debian package (.deb file):

dpkg-buildpackage -us -uc -b

via man page (https://linux.die.net/man/1/dpkg-source), the -b with an empty string will build a Debian package. That means, it DOES NOT need a tar gz file.

Build options (with -b):

If a second non-option argument is supplied it should be the name of the original source directory or tarfile or the empty string if the package is a Debian-specific one and so has no Debianisation diffs. If no second argument is supplied then dpkg-source will look for the original source tarfile package_upstream-version.orig.tar.gz or the original source directory directory.orig depending on the -sX arguments. 
</pe>


==Example==

For installing john:

<pre>
$ dpkg-buildpackage -us -uc -b
dpkg-buildpackage: info: source package john
dpkg-buildpackage: info: source version 1.8.0-2
dpkg-buildpackage: info: source distribution unstable
dpkg-buildpackage: info: source changed by Julián Moreno Patiño <julian@debian.org>
dpkg-buildpackage: info: host architecture amd64
 dpkg-source --before-build john
dpkg-source: info: applying allow-cflags-overriding.diff
dpkg-source: info: applying arm-unroll-loops-ftbfs-476460.diff
dpkg-source: info: applying kfreebsd-c3_fmt.diff
dpkg-source: info: applying define-cfg-name.diff
 fakeroot debian/rules clean
dh clean --sourcedirectory=src
   dh_testdir -O--sourcedirectory=src
   debian/rules override_dh_auto_clean
make[1]: Entering directory '/home/charles/codes/kali-tools/dist/john'
dh_auto_clean
	make -j1 clean
make[2]: Entering directory '/home/charles/codes/kali-tools/dist/john/src'
rm -f ../run/john ../run/unshadow ../run/unafs ../run/unique ../run/john.bin ../run/john.com ../run/unshadow.com ../run/unafs.com ../run/unique.com ../run/john.exe ../run/unshadow.exe ../run/unafs.exe ../run/unique.exe
rm -f ../run/john.exe john-macosx-* *.o *.bak core
rm -f detect bench generic.h arch.h tmp.s
cp /dev/null Makefile.dep
make[2]: Leaving directory '/home/charles/codes/kali-tools/dist/john/src'
# script-not-executable
chmod +x debian/extra/cronjob	
make[1]: Leaving directory '/home/charles/codes/kali-tools/dist/john'
   dh_clean -O--sourcedirectory=src
 debian/rules build
dh build --sourcedirectory=src
   dh_testdir -O--sourcedirectory=src
   dh_update_autotools_config -O--sourcedirectory=src
   dh_auto_configure -O--sourcedirectory=src
   debian/rules override_dh_auto_build
make[1]: Entering directory '/home/charles/codes/kali-tools/dist/john'
# building the selected target
dh_auto_build -- clean linux-x86-64
	make -j1 clean linux-x86-64
make[2]: Entering directory '/home/charles/codes/kali-tools/dist/john/src'
rm -f ../run/john ../run/unshadow ../run/unafs ../run/unique ../run/john.bin ../run/john.com ../run/unshadow.com ../run/unafs.com ../run/unique.com ../run/john.exe ../run/unshadow.exe ../run/unafs.exe ../run/unique.exe
rm -f ../run/john.exe john-macosx-* *.o *.bak core
rm -f detect bench generic.h arch.h tmp.s
cp /dev/null Makefile.dep
ln -sf x86-64.h arch.h

...snip...

ln -s john ../run/unshadow
rm -f ../run/unafs
ln -s john ../run/unafs
rm -f ../run/unique
ln -s john ../run/unique
make[3]: Leaving directory '/home/charles/codes/kali-tools/dist/john/src'
make[2]: Leaving directory '/home/charles/codes/kali-tools/dist/john/src'
make[1]: Leaving directory '/home/charles/codes/kali-tools/dist/john'
   create-stamp debian/debhelper-build-stamp
 fakeroot debian/rules binary
dh binary --sourcedirectory=src
   create-stamp debian/debhelper-build-stamp
   dh_testroot -O--sourcedirectory=src
   dh_prep -O--sourcedirectory=src
   debian/rules override_dh_auto_install
make[1]: Entering directory '/home/charles/codes/kali-tools/dist/john'
# install the selected target 
dh_auto_install
# install fallbacks as needed
make[1]: Leaving directory '/home/charles/codes/kali-tools/dist/john'
   dh_install -O--sourcedirectory=src
   dh_installdocs -O--sourcedirectory=src
   dh_installchangelogs -O--sourcedirectory=src
   dh_installman -O--sourcedirectory=src
   dh_installcron -O--sourcedirectory=src
   dh_perl -O--sourcedirectory=src
   dh_link -O--sourcedirectory=src
   dh_strip_nondeterminism -O--sourcedirectory=src
   dh_compress -O--sourcedirectory=src
   dh_fixperms -O--sourcedirectory=src
   dh_strip -O--sourcedirectory=src
   dh_makeshlibs -O--sourcedirectory=src
   dh_shlibdeps -O--sourcedirectory=src
   dh_installdeb -O--sourcedirectory=src
   dh_gencontrol -O--sourcedirectory=src
   dh_md5sums -O--sourcedirectory=src
   dh_builddeb -O--sourcedirectory=src
dpkg-deb: building package 'john-data' in '../john-data_1.8.0-2_all.deb'.
dpkg-deb: building package 'john' in '../john_1.8.0-2_amd64.deb'.
 dpkg-genbuildinfo --build=binary
 dpkg-genchanges --build=binary >../john_1.8.0-2_amd64.changes
dpkg-genchanges: info: binary-only upload (no source code included)
 dpkg-source --after-build john
dpkg-source: info: unapplying define-cfg-name.diff
dpkg-source: info: unapplying kfreebsd-c3_fmt.diff
dpkg-source: info: unapplying arm-unroll-loops-ftbfs-476460.diff
dpkg-source: info: unapplying allow-cflags-overriding.diff
dpkg-buildpackage: info: binary-only upload (no source included)

Now, you should be able to see a john .deb file in the parent directory:

$ ls ../
john
john_1.8.0-2_amd64.buildinfo
john_1.8.0-2_amd64.changes
john_1.8.0-2_amd64.deb
john-data_1.8.0-2_all.deb

Last step is to install the package with the dpkg -i command:

dpkg -i john_1.8.0-2_amd64.deb
dpkg -i john-data_1.8.0-2_all.deb

After that, you'll see them in aptitude:

$ sudo apt-get install john john-data
Reading package lists... Done
Building dependency tree       
Reading state information... Done
john is already the newest version (1.8.0-2+b1).
john-data is already the newest version (1.8.0-2).
john-data set to manually installed.
0 upgraded, 0 newly installed, 0 to remove and 0 not upgraded.