Checkinstall .deb package not create empty directories

Question

I'm trying to create a .deb package for my xymon-client installation, but it is not creating the empty directories used for logs and temp files.

If I run checkinstall -D make install or checkinstall

then

/# ls -l ~xymon/client
drwxr-xr-x 2 xymon root 4096 Dez 18 15:19 bin
drwxr-xr-x 2 xymon root 4096 Dez 18 15:19 etc
drwxr-xr-x 2 xymon root 4096 Dez 18 15:19 ext
drwxr-xr-x 2 xymon root 4096 Dez 18 15:19 logs
-rwxr-xr-x 1 xymon  500 3990 Fev 22  2009 runclient.sh
drwxr-xr-x 2 xymon root 4096 Dez 18 15:19 tmp

Works great!

But if checkinstall --install=no -D make install or checkinstall --install=no and dpkg -i xymon_4.2.3-1_i386.deb

then

/# ls -l ~xymon/client
drwxr-xr-x 2 xymon root 4096 Dez 18 15:19 bin
drwxr-xr-x 2 xymon root 4096 Dez 18 15:19 etc
-rwxr-xr-x 1 xymon  500 3990 Fev 22  2009 runclient.sh

I don't know the difference between running checkinstall and checkinstall -D make install, but it don't affect the result.

dpkg-deb -c xymon_4.2.3-1_i386.deb gives me

drwxr-xr-x root/root         0 2014-12-18 15:19 ./
drwxr-xr-x root/root         0 2014-12-18 14:21 ./home/
drwxr-xr-x xymon/xymon       0 2014-12-18 15:19 ./home/xymon/
drwxr-xr-x xymon/root        0 2014-12-18 15:19 ./home/xymon/client/
-rwxr-xr-x xymon/500      3990 2009-02-22 07:35 ./home/xymon/client/runclient.sh
drwxr-xr-x xymon/root        0 2014-12-18 15:19 ./home/xymon/client/etc/
-rw-r--r-- xymon/root     1623 2014-12-18 15:19 ./home/xymon/client/etc/hobbitclient.cfg
-rw-r--r-- xymon/root     1343 2014-12-18 15:19 ./home/xymon/client/etc/clientlaunch.cfg
-rw-r--r-- xymon/root    20998 2014-12-18 15:19 ./home/xymon/client/etc/localclient.cfg
drwxr-xr-x xymon/root        0 2014-12-18 15:19 ./home/xymon/client/bin/
-rwxr-xr-x xymon/500      1904 2006-07-05 02:52 ./home/xymon/client/bin/hobbitclient-openbsd.sh
-rwxr-xr-x xymon/500      1972 2008-11-26 10:47 ./home/xymon/client/bin/hobbitclient-aix.sh
-rwxr-xr-x xymon/500      1701 2006-07-05 02:52 ./home/xymon/client/bin/hobbitclient-osf1.sh
-rwxr-xr-x xymon/root    50964 2014-12-18 14:22 ./home/xymon/client/bin/hobbitlaunch
-rwxr-xr-x xymon/500      1841 2006-08-02 10:35 ./home/xymon/client/bin/hobbitclient-sco_sv.sh
-rwxr-xr-x xymon/root    55080 2014-12-18 14:22 ./home/xymon/client/bin/orcahobbit
-rwxr-xr-x xymon/500      2528 2008-11-28 16:19 ./home/xymon/client/bin/hobbitclient-linux.sh
-rwxr-xr-x xymon/root    63212 2014-12-18 14:22 ./home/xymon/client/bin/bbdigest
-rwxr-xr-x xymon/root    55072 2014-12-18 14:22 ./home/xymon/client/bin/bb
-rwxr-xr-x xymon/500      1834 2006-07-05 02:52 ./home/xymon/client/bin/hobbitclient-irix.sh
-rwxr-xr-x xymon/root    59192 2014-12-18 14:22 ./home/xymon/client/bin/clientupdate
-rwxr-xr-x xymon/root    50988 2014-12-18 14:22 ./home/xymon/client/bin/msgcache
-rwxr-xr-x xymon/root    46828 2014-12-18 14:22 ./home/xymon/client/bin/bbcmd
-rwxr-xr-x xymon/500      2891 2006-07-06 06:07 ./home/xymon/client/bin/hobbitclient.sh
-rwxr-xr-x xymon/500      1907 2006-07-05 02:52 ./home/xymon/client/bin/hobbitclient-netbsd.sh
-rwxr-xr-x xymon/root    75572 2014-12-18 14:22 ./home/xymon/client/bin/logfetch
-rwxr-xr-x xymon/500      2039 2006-07-05 02:52 ./home/xymon/client/bin/hobbitclient-freebsd.sh
-rwxr-xr-x xymon/root    75680 2014-12-18 14:22 ./home/xymon/client/bin/bbhostgrep
-rwxr-xr-x xymon/500      2070 2006-07-05 02:52 ./home/xymon/client/bin/hobbitclient-hp-ux.sh
-rwxr-xr-x xymon/500      3033 2008-11-26 10:25 ./home/xymon/client/bin/hobbitclient-sunos.sh
-rwxr-xr-x xymon/root    42724 2014-12-18 14:22 ./home/xymon/client/bin/bbhostshow
-rwxr-xr-x xymon/500      1555 2008-11-26 10:47 ./home/xymon/client/bin/hobbitclient-darwin.sh
...

As you can see, the deb package doesn't contain the empty dirs... Any ideas why?

Answer 1

I just came across the same problem and posted a bug report.

As a workaround, you can use a postinstall-script to create the empty directories (don´t know if it´s possible to use relative dirs). This will be included in the package and run after installation.

cat << EOF > postinstall-pak
#! /bin/sh
mkdir #DIRECTORY#
EOF