I'm wondering what people are using to _build_ custom deb packages. We currently have a set of simple shell scripts which first install the dependencies, then compile some source code and finally use checkinstall to build a Debian package from that. It works, but I'd much rather have a config file with all the required steps instead of a buggy shell script.
Is there any better way?
Debhelper felt a bit too "low-level" when I first tried it. After learning a lot about Debian packages it might be a good choice now. Maybe I'll have another look. Thanks!
Check out the "not your grandpa's debhelper" presentation. (http://penta.debconf.org/dc9_schedule/events/418.en.html) The official documentation seems to disregard a lot of the recent (as in, from the last 8 years) improvements.