CPack DEB Generator

The built in (binary) CPack DEB generator (Unix only)

Variables specific to CPack Debian (DEB) generator

The CPack DEB generator may be used to create DEB package using CPack. The CPack DEB generator is a CPack generator thus it uses the CPACK_XXX variables used by CPack.

The CPack DEB generator should work on any Linux host but it will produce better deb package when Debian specific tools dpkg-xxx are usable on the build system.

The CPack DEB generator has specific features which are controlled by the specifics CPACK_DEBIAN_XXX variables.

CPACK_DEBIAN_<COMPONENT>_XXXX variables may be used in order to have component specific values. Note however that <COMPONENT> refers to the grouping name written in upper case. It may be either a component name or a component GROUP name.

Here are some CPack DEB generator wiki resources that are here for historic reasons and are no longer maintained but may still prove useful:

List of CPack DEB generator specific variables:

CPACK_DEB_COMPONENT_INSTALL

Enable component packaging for CPackDEB

  • Mandatory : NO

  • Default : OFF

If enabled (ON) multiple packages are generated. By default a single package containing files of all components is generated.

CPACK_DEBIAN_PACKAGE_NAME
CPACK_DEBIAN_<COMPONENT>_PACKAGE_NAME

Set Package control field (variable is automatically transformed to lower case).

See https://www.debian.org/doc/debian-policy/ch-controlfields.html#s-f-Source

CPACK_DEBIAN_FILE_NAME
CPACK_DEBIAN_<COMPONENT>_FILE_NAME

Package file name.

  • Mandatory : YES

  • Default : <CPACK_PACKAGE_FILE_NAME>[-<component>].deb

This may be set to DEB-DEFAULT to allow the CPack DEB generator to generate package file name by itself in deb format:

<PackageName>_<VersionNumber>-<DebianRevisionNumber>_<DebianArchitecture>.deb

Alternatively provided package file name must end with either .deb or .ipk suffix.

Note

Preferred setting of this variable is DEB-DEFAULT but for backward compatibility with the CPack DEB generator in CMake prior to version 3.6 this feature is disabled by default.

Note

By using non default filenames duplicate names may occur. Duplicate files get overwritten and it is up to the packager to set the variables in a manner that will prevent such errors.

CPACK_DEBIAN_PACKAGE_EPOCH

The Debian package epoch

  • Mandatory : No

  • Default : -

Optional number that should be incremented when changing versioning schemas or fixing mistakes in the version numbers of older packages.

CPACK_DEBIAN_PACKAGE_VERSION

The Debian package version

This variable may contain only alphanumerics (A-Za-z0-9) and the characters . + - ~ (full stop, plus, hyphen, tilde) and should start with a digit. If CPACK_DEBIAN_PACKAGE_RELEASE is not set then hyphens are not allowed.

Note

For backward compatibility with CMake 3.9 and lower a failed test of this variable’s content is not a hard error when both CPACK_DEBIAN_PACKAGE_RELEASE and CPACK_DEBIAN_PACKAGE_EPOCH variables are not set. An author warning is reported instead.

CPACK_DEBIAN_PACKAGE_RELEASE

The Debian package release - Debian revision number.

  • Mandatory : No

  • Default : -

This is the numbering of the DEB package itself, i.e. the version of the packaging and not the version of the content (see CPACK_DEBIAN_PACKAGE_VERSION). One may change the default value if the previous packaging was buggy and/or you want to put here a fancy Linux distro specific numbering.

CPACK_DEBIAN_PACKAGE_ARCHITECTURE
CPACK_DEBIAN_<COMPONENT>_PACKAGE_ARCHITECTURE

The Debian package architecture

  • Mandatory : YES

  • Default : Output of dpkg --print-architecture (or i386 if dpkg is not found)

CPACK_DEBIAN_PACKAGE_DEPENDS
CPACK_DEBIAN_<COMPONENT>_PACKAGE_DEPENDS

Sets the Debian dependencies of this package.

  • Mandatory : NO

  • Default :

Note

If CPACK_DEBIAN_PACKAGE_SHLIBDEPS or more specifically CPACK_DEBIAN_<COMPONENT>_PACKAGE_SHLIBDEPS is set for this component, the discovered dependencies will be appended to CPACK_DEBIAN_<COMPONENT>_PACKAGE_DEPENDS instead of CPACK_DEBIAN_PACKAGE_DEPENDS. If CPACK_DEBIAN_<COMPONENT>_PACKAGE_DEPENDS is an empty string, only the automatically discovered dependencies will be set for this component.

Example:

set(CPACK_DEBIAN_PACKAGE_DEPENDS "libc6 (>= 2.3.1-6), libc6 (< 2.4)")
CPACK_DEBIAN_ENABLE_COMPONENT_DEPENDS

Sets inter component dependencies if listed with CPACK_COMPONENT_<compName>_DEPENDS variables.

  • Mandatory : NO

  • Default : -

CPACK_DEBIAN_PACKAGE_MAINTAINER

The Debian package maintainer

  • Mandatory : YES

  • Default : CPACK_PACKAGE_CONTACT

CPACK_DEBIAN_PACKAGE_DESCRIPTION
CPACK_COMPONENT_<COMPONENT>_DESCRIPTION

The Debian package description

CPACK_DEBIAN_PACKAGE_SECTION
CPACK_DEBIAN_<COMPONENT>_PACKAGE_SECTION

Set Section control field e.g. admin, devel, doc, …

  • Mandatory : YES

  • Default : “devel”

See https://www.debian.org/doc/debian-policy/ch-archive.html#s-subsections

CPACK_DEBIAN_ARCHIVE_TYPE

The archive format used for creating the Debian package.

  • Mandatory : YES

  • Default : “paxr”

Possible values are:

  • paxr

  • gnutar

Note

Default pax archive format is the most portable format and generates packages that do not treat sparse files specially. GNU tar format on the other hand supports longer filenames.

CPACK_DEBIAN_COMPRESSION_TYPE

The compression used for creating the Debian package.

  • Mandatory : YES

  • Default : “gzip”

Possible values are:

  • lzma

  • xz

  • bzip2

  • gzip

CPACK_DEBIAN_PACKAGE_PRIORITY
CPACK_DEBIAN_<COMPONENT>_PACKAGE_PRIORITY

Set Priority control field e.g. required, important, standard, optional, extra

  • Mandatory : YES

  • Default : “optional”

See https://www.debian.org/doc/debian-policy/ch-archive.html#s-priorities

CPACK_DEBIAN_PACKAGE_HOMEPAGE

The URL of the web site for this package, preferably (when applicable) the site from which the original source can be obtained and any additional upstream documentation or information may be found.

Note

The content of this field is a simple URL without any surrounding characters such as <>.

CPACK_DEBIAN_PACKAGE_SHLIBDEPS
CPACK_DEBIAN_<COMPONENT>_PACKAGE_SHLIBDEPS

May be set to ON in order to use dpkg-shlibdeps to generate better package dependency list.

Note

You may need set CMAKE_INSTALL_RPATH to an appropriate value if you use this feature, because if you don’t dpkg-shlibdeps may fail to find your own shared libs. See https://gitlab.kitware.com/cmake/community/wikis/doc/cmake/RPATH-handling

CPACK_DEBIAN_PACKAGE_DEBUG

May be set when invoking cpack in order to trace debug information during the CPack DEB generator run.

  • Mandatory : NO

  • Default : -

CPACK_DEBIAN_PACKAGE_PREDEPENDS
CPACK_DEBIAN_<COMPONENT>_PACKAGE_PREDEPENDS

Sets the Pre-Depends field of the Debian package. Like Depends, except that it also forces dpkg to complete installation of the packages named before even starting the installation of the package which declares the pre-dependency.

See http://www.debian.org/doc/debian-policy/ch-relationships.html#s-binarydeps

CPACK_DEBIAN_PACKAGE_ENHANCES
CPACK_DEBIAN_<COMPONENT>_PACKAGE_ENHANCES

Sets the Enhances field of the Debian package. Similar to Suggests but works in the opposite direction: declares that a package can enhance the functionality of another package.

  • Mandatory : NO

  • Default :

See http://www.debian.org/doc/debian-policy/ch-relationships.html#s-binarydeps

CPACK_DEBIAN_PACKAGE_BREAKS
CPACK_DEBIAN_<COMPONENT>_PACKAGE_BREAKS

Sets the Breaks field of the Debian package. When a binary package (P) declares that it breaks other packages (B), dpkg will not allow the package (P) which declares Breaks be unpacked unless the packages that will be broken (B) are deconfigured first. As long as the package (P) is configured, the previously deconfigured packages (B) cannot be reconfigured again.

  • Mandatory : NO

  • Default :

See https://www.debian.org/doc/debian-policy/ch-relationships.html#s-breaks

CPACK_DEBIAN_PACKAGE_CONFLICTS
CPACK_DEBIAN_<COMPONENT>_PACKAGE_CONFLICTS

Sets the Conflicts field of the Debian package. When one binary package declares a conflict with another using a Conflicts field, dpkg will not allow them to be unpacked on the system at the same time.

See https://www.debian.org/doc/debian-policy/ch-relationships.html#s-conflicts

Note

This is a stronger restriction than Breaks, which prevents the broken package from being configured while the breaking package is in the “Unpacked” state but allows both packages to be unpacked at the same time.

CPACK_DEBIAN_PACKAGE_PROVIDES
CPACK_DEBIAN_<COMPONENT>_PACKAGE_PROVIDES

Sets the Provides field of the Debian package. A virtual package is one which appears in the Provides control field of another package.

  • Mandatory : NO

  • Default :

See https://www.debian.org/doc/debian-policy/ch-relationships.html#s-virtual

CPACK_DEBIAN_PACKAGE_REPLACES
CPACK_DEBIAN_<COMPONENT>_PACKAGE_REPLACES

Sets the Replaces field of the Debian package. Packages can declare in their control file that they should overwrite files in certain other packages, or completely replace other packages.

  • Mandatory : NO

  • Default :

See http://www.debian.org/doc/debian-policy/ch-relationships.html#s-binarydeps

CPACK_DEBIAN_PACKAGE_RECOMMENDS
CPACK_DEBIAN_<COMPONENT>_PACKAGE_RECOMMENDS

Sets the Recommends field of the Debian package. Allows packages to declare a strong, but not absolute, dependency on other packages.

See http://www.debian.org/doc/debian-policy/ch-relationships.html#s-binarydeps

CPACK_DEBIAN_PACKAGE_SUGGESTS
CPACK_DEBIAN_<COMPONENT>_PACKAGE_SUGGESTS

Sets the Suggests field of the Debian package. Allows packages to declare a suggested package install grouping.

  • Mandatory : NO

  • Default :

See http://www.debian.org/doc/debian-policy/ch-relationships.html#s-binarydeps

CPACK_DEBIAN_PACKAGE_GENERATE_SHLIBS

  • Mandatory : NO

  • Default : OFF

Allows to generate shlibs control file automatically. Compatibility is defined by CPACK_DEBIAN_PACKAGE_GENERATE_SHLIBS_POLICY variable value.

Note

Libraries are only considered if they have both library name and version set. This can be done by setting SOVERSION property with set_target_properties() command.

CPACK_DEBIAN_PACKAGE_GENERATE_SHLIBS_POLICY

Compatibility policy for auto-generated shlibs control file.

  • Mandatory : NO

  • Default : “=”

Defines compatibility policy for auto-generated shlibs control file. Possible values: “=”, “>=”

See https://www.debian.org/doc/debian-policy/ch-sharedlibs.html#s-sharedlibs-shlibdeps

CPACK_DEBIAN_PACKAGE_CONTROL_EXTRA
CPACK_DEBIAN_<COMPONENT>_PACKAGE_CONTROL_EXTRA

This variable allow advanced user to add custom script to the control.tar.gz. Typical usage is for conffiles, postinst, postrm, prerm.

  • Mandatory : NO

  • Default : -

Usage:

set(CPACK_DEBIAN_PACKAGE_CONTROL_EXTRA
    "${CMAKE_CURRENT_SOURCE_DIR}/prerm;${CMAKE_CURRENT_SOURCE_DIR}/postrm")

Note

The original permissions of the files will be used in the final package unless the variable CPACK_DEBIAN_PACKAGE_CONTROL_STRICT_PERMISSION is set. In particular, the scripts should have the proper executable flag prior to the generation of the package.

CPACK_DEBIAN_PACKAGE_CONTROL_STRICT_PERMISSION
CPACK_DEBIAN_<COMPONENT>_PACKAGE_CONTROL_STRICT_PERMISSION

This variable indicates if the Debian policy on control files should be strictly followed.

  • Mandatory : NO

  • Default : FALSE

Usage:

set(CPACK_DEBIAN_PACKAGE_CONTROL_STRICT_PERMISSION TRUE)

Note

This overrides the permissions on the original files, following the rules set by Debian policy https://www.debian.org/doc/debian-policy/ch-files.html#s-permissions-owners

CPACK_DEBIAN_PACKAGE_SOURCE
CPACK_DEBIAN_<COMPONENT>_PACKAGE_SOURCE

Sets the Source field of the binary Debian package. When the binary package name is not the same as the source package name (in particular when several components/binaries are generated from one source) the source from which the binary has been generated should be indicated with the field Source.

  • Mandatory : NO

  • Default :

See https://www.debian.org/doc/debian-policy/ch-controlfields.html#s-f-Source

Note

This value is not interpreted. It is possible to pass an optional revision number of the referenced source package as well.

Packaging of debug information

Dbgsym packages contain debug symbols for debugging packaged binaries.

Dbgsym packaging has its own set of variables:

CPACK_DEBIAN_DEBUGINFO_PACKAGE
CPACK_DEBIAN_<component>_DEBUGINFO_PACKAGE

Enable generation of dbgsym .ddeb package(s).

  • Mandatory : NO

  • Default : OFF

Note

Binaries must contain debug symbols before packaging so use either Debug or RelWithDebInfo for CMAKE_BUILD_TYPE variable value.

Building Debian packages on Windows

To communicate UNIX file permissions from the install stage to the CPack DEB generator the “cmake_mode_t” NTFS alternate data stream (ADT) is used.

When a filesystem without ADT support is used only owner read/write permissions can be preserved.

Reproducible packages

The environment variable SOURCE_DATE_EPOCH may be set to a UNIX timestamp, defined as the number of seconds, excluding leap seconds, since 01 Jan 1970 00:00:00 UTC. If set, the CPack DEB generator will use its value for timestamps in the package.