debdelta and kubuntu

[Dimka]

Hello!
One thing to start with: I'm rather new to kubuntu and debian in general, so sometimes I may say a stupid things .

I've come across a debian package named 'debdelta'. Here's its description:
http://packages.debian.org/unstable/devel/debdelta

It can save a lot of space during upgrading and I'm a dialup user, so the size of downloads does matter for me .

What I'm asking is whether it is possible to use this package in kubuntu?
Will it be safe to apply it to kubuntu's debs?
How do I install it in kubuntu?

Any feedback is welcome.
Thanks in advance.

[askrieger]

Re: debdelta and kubuntu

It is not safe to attempt to install debian packages on a Kubuntu system. The libraries for Kubuntu may be both older than the libs in Debian Unstable and newer than the libraries in Debian Testing. Thus, while you might luck out, you might also crash your system. I suggest you make a packaging request in the forum, here, for that purpose.

[Dimka]

Re: debdelta and kubuntu

Just found it in edgy's packages...
So if I build a package by hand with dpkg - it can work out?

[askrieger]

Re: debdelta and kubuntu

Debdelta is not in the Dapper packages. Are you thinking of trying to INSTALL the Debian or Edgy package in Dapper with dpkg or are you trying to BUILD a new package for Dapper? If you are trying to install the Debian package, the answer depends on the versions of the libraries the Debian package uses and how they compare to the Dapper libraries. The Edgy package probably won't work. Edgy will probably have newer libraries than Dapper. If you are trying to build the package on your own, then whther it will work or not is entirely up to you. It will be a great learning experience, if you have the time.

[Dimka]

Re: debdelta and kubuntu

Yup, I want to try the latter - building a package for dapper from sources.

I already did that with cmake-2.4.2 (which is in Edgy), because it is needed for my work on an upcoming KDE4 .

What I am wondering about is how debdelta actually works - I mean does it depend on distro involved. For example the questions I ask myself are: how the deltas are produced and apllied? Based on packages from Debian? Will it handle Ubuntu packages as well?
Well, probably, that's not questions to you and rather that's something I need to investigate .
Sadly, it seems that debdelta hasn't any homepage which describes all that details...

And thanks for your input!