protopkg - Slackware .tgz Packaging Tool
========================================

This directory includes all the necessary source to put together "protopkg".
Protopkg will read prototype files to generate packages that can be
installed using the standard Slackware packaging tools.  The *.template
files explain how the system works.

Protopkg is pretty easy to use.  You put all the source, patches, and other
such files needed to build the binary package into one directory.  Then
you construct a "prototype" file that tells protopkg how to build the binary
package.  The prototype.template file explains the layout of that file.

For some help writing prototype files, or "prototype trees" (like the FreeBSD
ports tree works), consult the "examples" directory.  It makes use of all of
protopkg's functions.

Once you have the prototype and any subprototypes written, you'll want to
run protopkg in that directory to get your binary package.  There are several
command line switches for protopkg that you'll want to be familiar with:

   -v, --verbose      Verbose output.  You'll pretty much always want
                      this, otherwise it'll suppress compiler output.

   -c, --cleanup      Removes the build tree after making the binary
                      package.

   -b, --batch        Batch/unattended mode.  This will cause protopkg to
                      use the list of files it found for constructing the
                      package.  You will never be prompted with that list.

   -p<pkg>,           Only build the specified subpackage.  If you do not
   --package <pkg>    specify a subpackage to build, protopkg will only build
                      the one specified in the main prototype file.

   -h, --help         Display the help screen.

Options are parsed with getopt, so you can slam as many as you want
together.  I usually do this:

   protopkg -vc

That's all I have to say right now.  Enjoy.

-David Cantrell
 <david@slackware.com>