Debhelper: Ignore setup.py for one of multiple binary packages

Question

A server and and a corresponding client are being built from a single source package:

Source: packagename
Build-Depends: debhelper (>= 8.0.0), python (>= 2.6)                             
Standards-Version: 3.9.4                                                         
X-Python-Version: >= 2.6                                                         

Package: packagename-server                                                    
Architecture: all                                                                
Depends: nodejs, ${misc:Depends}                        

Package: schoollibrary-client                                                    
Architecture: all                                                                
Depends: python-pyside.qtcore, python-pyside.qtgui, python-pyside.qtnetwork,
 ${misc:Depends}

The server needs no special build process. There's simply a packagename-server.install file.

The client is based on Python and can be installed with a setup.py script.

When I use the following rules file with debhelper the setup.py is also run for creating the server package, of course:

#!/usr/bin/make -f                                                               

%:                                                                               
    dh $@

How do I keep the Python stuff out of the server package? Is there something I can do with the targets to keep them seperate?

Answer 1

Separating what belongs in what subpackage is done with the *.install files. The build step is meant to build everything, regardless of which subpackage the built files will eventually land in.

If you have two separate source tarballs for the server and client packages, you'll also want to have separate source packages.