How to create a .deb file from installed package?

Question

You can install a .deb package file onto a system by using dpkg -i filename.deb.

Is it possible to do the reverse? By reverse, I mean create a .deb package file from an installed package given a package name?

You should already have the .deb file in /var/cache/apt/archives — Doug Smythies, Mar 4, 2015 at 7:43

Tom-db · Accepted Answer · 2020-05-27 22:05:33Z

48

Install dpkg-repack package:

sudo apt-get install dpkg-repack

Example usage:- dpkg-repack gparted

replace gparted with your package_name

Tom-db

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answered Mar 4, 2015 at 7:45

Panta

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an example would be great ;)
– Postadelmaga
Mar 25, 2015 at 1:25
@postadelmanga if you wanted to repack an independently installed program you may run sudo dpkg-repack vlc for say the vlc player. however, i do not know about other packages with dependencies and everything else.
– Aditya Soni
Oct 25, 2015 at 12:52
3

You can use fakeroot -u dpkg-repack gparted to run it without root privileges, if your user can read all files of the package you want to rebuild.
– Selivanov Pavel
Mar 7, 2017 at 12:58

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