Re: [swarm-hackers] Swarm in debian/ubuntu

[Alex Lancaster]

>>>>> "PJ" == Paul Johnson  writes:

PJ> Scott Christley wrote:
>> Hello All,
>> 
>> I would like to make Swarm a standard debian/ubuntu package so
>> those users can just use the apt-get package system to install
>> Swarm.  Is somebody already doing this or has worked on this?  If
>> not, I'm gonna apply to become a Debian maintainer for Swarm.
>> 
PJ> Please do.

PJ> I fought the big fight to get Swarm to compile on an Ubuntu system
PJ> last month. I posted the problem with the Java setup and the flaw
PJ> in the JDK installation that confused Swarm's configure
PJ> script. Other than that, the new tarball built a working install.
PJ> As I recall, the big problem was that the Sun JDK installs an
PJ> empty directory that has the word "native_threads" in the bin
PJ> directory, and unless you delete that, Java Swarm won't build.

PJ> I can build RPMs, but building Debs just kills me. I keep meaning
PJ> to do it, but the process seems so uncomfortable to me.

PJ> I'm curious to know if you will want to call your package
PJ> "libswarm" rather than "swarm".

Speaking of packages, I have been a Fedora maintainer of some
bioinformatics packages for a while, see:

https://fedoraproject.org/wiki/User:Alexlan

Now that I'm pretty familar with the package review process, I'd like
to get Swarm (finally!) into Fedora proper (after an abortive attempt
way back in the late 1990s with the short-lived Red Hat Contributor
Network, that Paul probably remembers...).  

Anyway, I made a start a few months ago modifiying Paul's .spec file
according to the Fedora packaging guidelines:

https://fedoraproject.org/wiki/Packaging/Guidelines

that I can post here.

Paul: I would like to work with you on this if you're interested.  I
can also be the conduit for the package updates if you don't want to
sign up yourself.  What needs to be done in Fedora packages to get
Swarm building out of the box on an unmodified Fedora box?  I remember
seeing something about a patch needed for blt.  I could file a bug and
apply the patch to the Fedora package so that would remove the need
for a separate blt.

Alex