Create .deb package from revision tag for a git url

Question

created the following bash script to create a .deb package from a git url & revision tag:https://github.com/GlassGhost/GitDeb

I tested it with:

bash /path/to/GitDeb.sh git://repo.or.cz/tinycc.git tcc 0.9.26 release_0_9_26

but on calling line 36 of https://github.com/GlassGhost/GitDeb/blob/d0c24db46244cc34c0cffded57903fddb290d790/GitDeb.sh

fakeroot checkinstall --install=no --pkgname="$PkgName" --pkgversion="$PkgVersion" -y -D make install

it fails with the following:

Installing with make install...

========================= Installation results ===========================
make -C lib native
make[1]: Entering directory `/home/owner/Documents/GitDeb/tcc/lib'
make[1]: Nothing to be done for `native'.
make[1]: Leaving directory `/home/owner/Documents/GitDeb/tcc/lib'
mkdir -p "/usr/local/bin"
install -m755 tcc "/usr/local/bin"
install: cannot create regular file ‘/usr/local/bin/tcc’: Permission denied
make: *** [install] Error 1

****  Installation failed. Aborting package creation.

Answer 1

The checkinstall documentation suggests using --fstrans. So use this flag.

Update: I've downloaded your repo and run your code in an lxc container. Just adding --fstrans definitely allows me to create a complete deb by running your command.

fakeroot fakes some file operations but it does not allow the command it launches to install things where permissions are needed. That's why --fstrans is needed.

ETA: The command mkdir -p "/usr/local/share/doc/tcc" may fail. That's because the directory /usr/local/share/doc does not already exist when checkinstall is started. Yes, -p means create all the parents so it should work but for some reason --fstrans is unable to handle it. The solution is to precreate /usr/local/share/doc/ before running checkinstall:

sudo mkdir /usr/local/share/doc

This is something I would do manually before trying to build. Just like I had to manually install packages with apt-get so that the build would work. (Adding a check in the script for the existence of this directory would be helpful though for other folks who may run your script.)