OBS for a non-developer who just wants current programs?

Hi there, how’s it going?

I am not a developer or a packager, just a daily heavy user of openSUSE. I frequently need the latest released upstream version of some program. And there’s one program that I need to compile from GIT sources. But the problem is that I am a total idiot when it comes to packaging and compiling. I can never figure out why the /.configure process always bombs out on me due to some missing lib dependency. I also don’t have a fast connection, so downloading the huge source lib packages is no fun.

Could OBS help me? In the ideal world, I could point the OBS at some remote .tar.gz source package, and it would download it from that server, figure out the source dependencies, and compile an RPM for my version of openSUSE. Then I would just install it from my personal OBS repo. Is this possible?

Thanks a lot for your help!

Hi
From a GIT repository, there are a few commands to run prior to any configure, these need to be reflected in the rpm spec file. I think OBS can grab from git, but I normally do that locally and upload.

Do you have a link to the git repository?

Hi Malcom, thanks for the reply!

Sorry, my mistake! It’s not GIT, it’s CVS…
anonymous@gimp-print.cvs.sourceforge.net
I would like to test a new Gutenprint driver for my printer, only available on CVS at the moment.

And what about more typical source tarballs? Can I point OBS at one and let it deal with the compilation and the dependencies without specifically defining the RPM structure and all that?

Thanks for the help!

Hi
No, you need a spec file etc. The easiest is to grab an existing src rpm and modify. Is there a version of the driver your wanting on OBS now?

Hi, I’d like to test the new Canon MP250 Gutenprint driver, which is only available on CVS until somebody can test it. I believe all the drivers come in one big gutenprint package.
SourceForge.net: Gutenprint - Top Quality Printer Drivers: Detail: 3012348 - Canon PIXMA MP250 Series Support

Thanks for being so helpful!

gutenprint 5.2.7 is already here?
software.opensuse.org: Search Results

Hi
So the 5.2.7 version includes support for the Canon PIXMA MP250, see the NEWS file.

Hello, you are very right. Thanks very much for the tip!