In this tutorial, we'll make a mint file for an application which doesn't require us to set any other repository. We'll see how to make mint files for application in non-cassandra repositories in another tutorial.
Scope
In this tutorial we'll use Firefox as an example and we'll create a mint file for it.
Introduction
To create the mint file we need to get the following information:
- name of the application
- version number of the application
- description of the application
- name of the package corresponding to the application
- icon for the application
Gather information for the mint file with aptitude
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sudo aptitude show firefox
The name is "Firefox", the version number is "2.0.0.3", the description is "Lightweight web browser based on Mozilla".Package: firefox
State: installed
Automatically installed: no
Version: 2.0.0.3+1-0ubuntu2
Priority: optional
Section: web
Maintainer: Alexander Sack <asac@ubuntu.com>
Uncompressed Size: 29.3M
Depends: fontconfig, psmisc, debianutils (>= 1.16), libatk1.0-0 (>= 1.13.1), libc6 (>= 2.5-0ubuntu1), libcairo2 (>= 1.4.2),
libfontconfig1 (>= 2.4.0), libfreetype6 (>= 2.2), libgcc1 (>= 1:4.1.2), libglib2.0-0 (>= 2.12.9), libgtk2.0-0 (>=
2.10.3), libhunspell-1.1-0, libjpeg62, libpango1.0-0 (>= 1.16.1), libpng12-0 (>= 1.2.13-4), libstdc++6 (>= 4.1.2),
libx11-6, libxft2 (> 2.1.1), libxinerama1, libxrender1, libxt6, zlib1g (>= 1:1.2.1), libnspr4 (>=
2:1.firefox1.5.dfsg+1.5.0.5-0ubuntu6.06.1), libnss3 (>= 2:1.firefox1.5.dfsg+1.5.0.5-0ubuntu6.06.1)
Suggests: firefox-gnome-support (= 2.0.0.3+1-0ubuntu2), latex-xft-fonts, firefox-libthai
Conflicts: mozilla-firefox (< 1.5.dfsg-1)
Replaces: mozilla-firefox
Provides: www-browser
Description: lightweight web browser based on Mozilla
Firefox is a redesign of the Mozilla browser component, similar to Galeon, K-Meleon and Camino, but written using the XUL
user interface language and designed to be lightweight and cross-platform.
This browser was previously known as Firebird and Phoenix.
With this in mind we can start create our mint file...
Prepare the mint file with mint-make
We'll use mint-make for that. Open a terminal and type:
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mint-make
Once finished mint-make should have created a folder called "firefox_2.0.0.3"
Go in the directory and have a look at its content:
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cd firefox_2.0.0.3
ls
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sudo apt-get install firefox
(from the firefox_2.0.0.3 directory):
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sudo cp /usr/share/pixmaps/firefox.png icon
Compress the mint folder into a mint file with mint-compress
Your firefox_2.0.0.3 folder is ready and can now be compressed as a mint file.
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cd ..
mint-compress firefox_2.0.0.3
This creates a file called firefox_2.0.0.3.mint
Test the mint file
You double click the mint file or launch it with "mintInstall" from the command line. Make sure mintInstall shows the icon properly, the name, the version number and the description.
Remove firefox with apt-get (to properly test the mint file you need to install the app with it.. so you need to remove it first):
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sudo apt-get remove firefox
sudo apt-get autoremove
sudo apt-get clean
Decompress a mint file
if you need to decompress a mint file, simply use:
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mint-decompress thefile.mint
Before you compress the folder into a mint file, go in "steps" and edit "1"... change the package name in there. Make sure to remove all temporary files created by the editor (for instance "1~").
When the application requires more than one package to be installed
In "steps" copy "1" to "2" and edit "2" with the second package name... and so on.
Clem