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Launchapad contains a wealth of packages that are not usable (they seem to be in source form or something).

For example, by searching for a "ndoc ubuntu" on google, I fell on the page https://launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/ndoc which basically has no description, no documentation, no readme, no .deb, no nothing.

Screenshot of part of the launchpad page

Clicking on the "Code" tab shows different bzr branches for Trusty, Saucy, etc. but no .deb package. How can I get a .deb package for this software, or otherwise install it?

Screenshot of the bzr branches

This package is just an example, I frequently encounter such non-installable packages on Launchpad.

Edit: Is there a specific tool or configuration to use for launchpad packages that downloads, patches and builds everything including dependencies, or are we supposed to use the standard bzr clone, ./configure, manually install all build dependencies, then make, sudo make install?

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This is because the package is no longer being built, due to either lack of updates upstream (the people who are developing ndoc) or compilation failures.

Note that the last commit in the Trusty branch was in 2009, back in the days of Jaunty and Karmic, which means this package didn't even enter Precise.

Also, note that Debian doesn't have this package. In this report, the reason for removal was "ROM; Old, abandoned upstream, terrible shape, crap, unused, should be burnt then salted then burnt again for good measure".

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  • Thanks, do you have any pointers ho the procedure to use to build such a package (not this one obviously)? Is there a specific tool or configuration to use for launchpad packages that downloads, patches and builds everything including dependencies, or are we supposed to use the standard bzr clone, ./configure, manually install all build dependencies, then make, sudo make install?
    – Suzanne Soy
    Jun 4, 2014 at 13:27
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    As a preface, with a package that was removed long ago, there's a good chance that a build dependency is not found (because of packages being renamed/split) or that the source is no longer compatible with the current versions of some libraries. To build the package (the Debian/Ubuntu way), you would have to do bzr clone, cd into the directory, and debuild. debuild will notify you of missing build dependencies, which you can use apt-get to install. If you don't have a GPG/PGP key (or if you don't know what this is), add -us -uc to the debuild command.
    – saiarcot895
    Jun 4, 2014 at 13:58
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In the case of your example you can't find because there are none

https://launchpad.net/ubuntu/lucid/+source/ndoc/1.3.1-6ubuntu1

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