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I have copied downloaded deb package when installing software from software center or terminal. Is it possible to make a single package instead of multiple package. Exp: Thunder bird have 3 package when i download it. Now i want to make standalone package.

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2 Answers

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Not without re-packaging everything with dpkg-deb at the least (and that's not easy as tar).

I recommend you tar or zip up all the debs, extract them to a single directory, then cd into it and simply run sudo dpkg -i *.deb to install them all (dpkg will resolve the dependencies automatically as long as they are all present).

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I did before as you said. But i want to make a single deb. – ScareCrow Jul 12 '12 at 23:48
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@ScareCrow, not possible. This is the best you can do. – psusi Jul 13 '12 at 1:22
I think its better to install all the package by dpkg instead of making bundle. Thanks. – ScareCrow Jul 13 '12 at 15:26
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It's difficult to define precisely what the dependencies are. If there are three packages for Thunderbird on one machine, there might be a different number of dependencies to install on a different machine, unless you're considering adding together all of several thousand possible packages.

The thing is, each package has lots of dependencies. Some are already installed, and some aren't. So the package manager determines which ones aren't already installed and installs them--and those are the only ones it bothers mentioning to you, even though there are actually many more. Naturally, the list will vary from machine to machine depending on the other software installed.

You can reduce the possible number of dependencies to be separately installed by bundling some things together (at the cost of wasted space on machines that already have some of the bundled software), but you can't eliminate it.

Another issue is that sometimes a single source package is split up into several binary packages. Again, this is for greater efficiency. Perhaps you might not want to install all of a program. Or there might be some parts that are platform-independent and don't need to be built separately for different types of machines.

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I try to install these package with sudo dpkg -i *.*deb some time it fail to install because dependency problem then i fix it with sudo apt-get -f install and copy all dependent file and put it in desire folder. So now dependency problem are less. – ScareCrow Jul 12 '12 at 23:52
Unless you're using a machine without a network connection, you should prefer to install software using a package manager such as aptitude instead of installing .debs directly. If you can't do so, you'll have to handle dependencies manually. Ubuntu is crippled without an internet connection. – Scott Severance Jul 13 '12 at 4:49

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