Can I make a package .deb from .tar.gz or .tar.bz2?

Question

If I had an application with .tar.gz or .tar.bz2 extension can I transform it to a package .deb ?

Answer 1

You can use checkinstall for that create deb from tar.gz or bz2

How to use

1. Extract your tar.gz to a folder.
2. Go to folder
3. If there is not makefile , create
4. Type sudo checkinstall.

Package will be created there

See the complete documentation at CheckInstall.

Answer 2

Yes and no. You are prbably better off extracting it and using one of the tools to make a proper deb.

http://community.linuxmint.com/tutorial/view/162 Works quite well.

That said it is possible to create a .deb containing your .tar.gz and have a post install script extract it, but that is mostly pointless.