docs(deb): document the Debian .deb build environment
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The .deb recipe already lives in Cargo.toml's [package.metadata.deb], but the
build *environment* (bookworm distrobox, glibc floor, the mandatory separate
CARGO_TARGET_DIR) was only captured in handoff notes. Add a packaging/debian
README so the deb path is as self-documenting as the Arch + AppImage paths.

Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 4.8 <noreply@anthropic.com>
This commit is contained in:
2026-06-29 00:03:48 -04:00
co-authored by Claude Opus 4.8
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# Debian / Ubuntu `.deb` build
This documents how the `peerspeak_*.deb` is produced, so the deb path is as
self-documenting as the Arch (`packaging/PKGBUILD`) and AppImage paths.
The deb **recipe itself** lives in-repo as the `[package.metadata.deb]` block in
the top-level `Cargo.toml` (cargo-deb's equivalent of a PKGBUILD). This file
documents only the **build environment**, which is otherwise undiscoverable from
a fresh clone.
## TL;DR
```sh
# one-time: create + provision the build box (see "Build environment" below)
distrobox enter peerspeak-bookworm -- bash -lc '
source ~/.cargo/env
cd ~/git/butter/peerspeak
export CARGO_TARGET_DIR=~/.cache/cargo-deb-targets/peerspeak # MANDATORY, see below
cargo deb
'
# output: $CARGO_TARGET_DIR/debian/peerspeak_<version>-1_amd64.deb
```
## Build environment
- **Base: a Debian 12 (bookworm) distrobox named `peerspeak-bookworm`.**
Created with `distrobox create --name peerspeak-bookworm --image debian:12`.
Bookworm ships **glibc 2.36**, which sets the widest practical compatibility
floor (see "glibc floor" below).
- **NEVER build the `.deb` on the Arch host.** Two independent reasons:
1. The Arch host's glibc is far newer, so the resulting `.deb` would demand a
glibc no normal Debian/Ubuntu user has, and ships an empty `Depends`.
2. distrobox shares `$HOME` (and therefore the repo's `target/`) with the host,
so a host build links Arch-compiled C objects into the "Debian" binary.
### One-time provisioning inside the box
```sh
distrobox enter peerspeak-bookworm
sudo apt update
sudo apt install -y build-essential pkg-config clang libclang-dev \
libpipewire-0.3-dev libopus-dev libasound2-dev libxcb1-dev
# clang/libclang -> pipewire-sys bindgen ; libxcb1-dev -> link
curl --proto '=https' --tlsv1.2 -sSf https://sh.rustup.rs | sh -s -- -y
source ~/.cargo/env
cargo install cargo-deb
```
### The mandatory separate `CARGO_TARGET_DIR`
Because distrobox shares `$HOME`, the repo's default `target/` is the **same
directory** the Arch host builds into. If you run `cargo deb` without overriding
the target dir, cargo will happily reuse Arch-built `.o`/rlib artifacts and link
them into the Debian binary, producing a `.deb` that crashes or demands the
host's glibc.
Always point the build at a box-local cache:
```sh
export CARGO_TARGET_DIR=~/.cache/cargo-deb-targets/peerspeak
```
(Run `cargo clean` first if you ever suspect a polluted target dir.)
## glibc floor
The `.deb` is built against the build box's glibc, which becomes the install
floor (`libc6 (>= 2.36)` lands in `Depends` via `$auto`):
| Build box | glibc | Runs on |
|----------------------|-------|--------------------------------------|
| `debian:12` (current)| 2.36 | Debian 12+, Ubuntu 24.04+ (glibc ≥ 2.36) |
| `ubuntu:26.04` (old) | 2.43 | Ubuntu 26.04+ only — too narrow, abandoned |
If a friend is on something even older than Debian 12, drop the floor further by
recreating the box from an older base image and rebuilding.
## Runtime `Depends` / `Recommends`
- `Depends = "$auto"` — cargo-deb runs `dpkg-shlibdeps`, which discovers the
linked shared libraries (PipeWire, Opus, ALSA, xcb, glibc, …) automatically.
- `Recommends = "pixelpass, mpv"``pixelpass` provides in-room screen sharing
and `mpv` is the screen-share viewer (these are companion programs invoked as
subprocesses, not linked libraries, so they are Recommends not Depends).
See `pixelpass`'s own `packaging/debian/README.md` for why **its** `Depends`
lists the whole GStreamer stack explicitly.