[Ubuntu] PolSARpro packaging

[Antonio Valentino]

Hi,

Il giorno Sat, 6 Nov 2010 13:03:24 +0100
Antonio Valentino <antonio.valentino at tiscali.it> ha scritto:

> Hi list,
> I'm trying to package PolSARpro (http://earth.esa.int/polsarpro), a
> SAR polarimetry tool, developed by the European Space Agency (ESA) and
> distributed under the GPL license.
> 
> I'm quite unexperienced in debian packaging so I would like to ask
> some tip to people more skilled than me.
> 
> The main problem I encountered is that PolSARpro needs to be run from
> a specific folder (the root folder of the SW distribution) and also
> needs write permission on some configuration files that are expected
> to be located inside the distribution tree. 
> 
> To overcome the issue I decided to write a small launch script that:
> * creates a .polsarpro in the user HOME
> * creates symbolic links to all required folders in $HOME/.polsarpro
> * makes a copy of configuration files in $HOME/.polsarpro (if not
> already present)
> * finally runs the main application (a Tcl/Tk program) from within of
> $HOME/.polsarpro
> 
> The application files (tcl scripts, binary executables, data files,
> etc. stored with an unusual directory layout) are
> in /usr/lib/polsarpro.
> 
> My question is: is this an acceptable approach for a debian package?
> 
> The alternative solution would be to write a large patch that fixes
> almost all file paths in the tcl code and could potentially introduce
> bugs hard to detect.

following Johan's hints I created a ppa on launchpad

https://launchpad.net/~a.valentino/+archive/eotools

and uploaded the polsarpro package.

Users interested in SAR polarimetry can give it a try (download is
about 180MB).

I will be happy to receive any kind of comment, suggestion or problem
report.

Now I'm planning to package a tool chain for SAR interferometry:

doris: http://doris.tudelft.nl
getorb: http://www.deos.tudelft.nl/ers/precorbs/tools/getorb_pack.shtml
libepr: https://github.com/bcdev/epr-api
snaphu: http://www-star.stanford.edu/sar_group/snaphu

and also

roipac: http://www.roipac.org
mapready: http://www.asf.alaska.edu/downloads/software_tools
best: http://earth.esa.int/services/best
bestgui: http://bestgui.sourceforge.net 
gsdview: http://gsdview.sourceforge.net


Unfortunately some of this tools have license limitations or are free
but not open source (like best).
In this cases I will provide only the PACKAGE/debian packaging stuffs
via launchpad+bzr so that users interested in can built packages by
their self.

Again, I'm not expert in debian packaging and I never used bzr so I'm
a little unsure on which is the best repository layout to set up:

a. a single repository with all packages inside it

eotools
  polsarpro
    bebian
  doris
    debian
...

b. an independent repository for each package

polsarpro
  bebian

doris
  debian
...


Suggestion are welcome.


Best regards

-- 
Antonio Valentino