Codehelp blog

This isn't new, I just thought it was worth noting because it is useful to show an example of a packaging principle when sponsoring new maintainers etc.

deb-gview has been extended via GnomeVFS to view the contents of any .deb in the archive without having to install the package and without having to separately download the .deb itself. Either copy the link address and load the .deb on the command line or configure your browser to use deb-gview as a helper for .deb files (right click a .deb and select open with... or similar). Then just double click on any text file within the .deb to view it. Also works with manpages and images inside the .deb, other filetypes can be supported via a config file. Supports viewing a .deb for any architecture, not just your own (useful to see if the autobuilders have really done what you expected with generated files).

e.g. when advising on using README.Debian, it was useful to give a simple URL to allow the user to easily see the format:

$ sudo apt-get install deb-gview
$ deb-gview http://ftp.uk.debian.org/debian/pool/main/g/gpe-shield/gpe-shield_0.9-1_amd64.deb

The URL itself comes from viewing the package on packages.debian.org, clicking any architecture and right clicking the name of whichever mirror you want to use (or configure the browser as above).

Also supports .changes files so you can view all .deb files within a build or view the packages in the incoming queue direct from a d.d.p.o page.

The advantages over debc / dpkg -c|dpkg -I are:

• support remote locations via GnomeVFS (http, ftp, ssh etc.)


• support viewing the contents of text files inside the .deb within the application - copyright, control, README, postinst, config files, header files in -dev packages . . .


• support external viewer programs to see ./usr/share/man/man1/foo.1.gz as a manpage instead of a text file


• can be passed any .changes file to view all contents without scrolling


• view all content in one .deb in one window with one command


• view the contents of any .deb in /var/cache/apt/archives/ - including old versions.


• view the contents of uninstallable archives to check the maintainer scripts etc.


• view the contents of .deb files in a repository without needing to add the repository to your sources list, e.g. backports or emdebian packages

Using GnomeVFS means using a few Gnome libraries but even for non-Gnome users, this shouldn't be too much of a burden.