10.9 How can I have my locally-built package included in the list of available packages that the package management system knows about?

Execute the command:

     dpkg-scanpackages BIN_DIR OVERRIDE_FILE [PATHPREFIX] > my_Packages

where:

• BIN-DIR is a directory where Debian archive files (which usually have an extension of ".deb") are stored.

• OVERRIDE_FILE is a file that is edited by the distribution maintainers and is usually stored on a Debian FTP archive at indices/override.main.gz for the Debian packages in the "main" distribution. You can ignore this for local packages.

• PATHPREFIX is an optional string that can be prepended to the my_Packages file being produced.

Once you have built the file my_Packages, tell the package management system about it by using the command:

     dpkg --merge-avail my_Packages

If you are using APT, you can add the local repository to your sources.list(5) file, too.