SparkNotePad

SparkNotePad Linux Packaging Guide (.deb & .rpm)

1. Overview

SparkNotePad provides native packaging support for modern Linux distributions via CMake and CPack:

Debian / Ubuntu / Linux Mint / Pop!_OS: Debian packages (.deb)
Fedora / RHEL / Rocky Linux / AlmaLinux / openSUSE: RPM packages (.rpm)

All official packages are compiled on LTS base environments (Ubuntu 22.04 LTS / glibc 2.35) to guarantee binary backward and forward compatibility across:

Ubuntu: 22.04 LTS, 24.04 LTS, 26.04 LTS
Debian: 12 (Bookworm), 13 (Trixie), Sid
Fedora: 38, 39, 40, 41, 42+
RHEL / Rocky / AlmaLinux: 9, 10+
openSUSE: Leap 15.5+, Tumbleweed

2. Package Specifications & Dependency Architecture

Attribute	Debian (`.deb`)	RPM (`.rpm`)
Package Name	`sparknotepad`	`sparknotepad`
Output Filename	`sparknotepad_<version>_<arch>.deb`	`sparknotepad-<version>-1.<arch>.rpm`
Section / Group	`editors`	`Applications/Editors`
License	`GPL-3.0-or-later`	`GPL-3.0-or-later`
Direct Dependencies	Declared with multi-version fallback (`\\|`) for classic Qt6 and `t64` (64-bit `time_t`)	Auto-detected ELF SONAME requirements (`AutoReq: 1`)
System Libraries	`libc6 (>= 2.35)`, `libstdc++6 (>= 11)`, `libgcc-s1` (via `CPACK_DEBIAN_PACKAGE_SHLIBDEPS`)	`libc.so.6`, `libstdc++.so.6` (via DNF provides)
Recommends	`xdg-utils`	`xdg-utils`
Desktop Entry	`/usr/share/applications/SparkNotePad.desktop`	`/usr/share/applications/SparkNotePad.desktop`
Application Icon	`/usr/share/icons/hicolor/scalable/apps/SparkNotePad.svg`	`/usr/share/icons/hicolor/scalable/apps/SparkNotePad.svg`

3. Why RPM Automatically Installs Dependencies vs. DEB

3.1 The RPM Mechanism (Fedora / DNF)

In RPM-based systems (Fedora, RHEL, openSUSE):

CPack configures CPACK_RPM_PACKAGE_AUTOREQ ON.
During package assembly, rpmbuild inspects the ELF DT_NEEDED dynamic tags of the binary (SparkNotePad).
It extracts raw shared object names (SONAMEs): libQt6Widgets.so.6, libQt6Core.so.6, libQt6Gui.so.6, libQt6PrintSupport.so.6, libQt6Core5Compat.so.6, libc.so.6.
In Fedora / RHEL, repository metadata indexes which package provides which SONAME (Provides: libQt6Widgets.so.6()(64bit)).
When a user executes:
```
sudo dnf install ./sparknotepad-1.3.5-1.x86_64.rpm
```
dnf queries the repository index for every required SONAME and automatically downloads and installs qt6-qtbase-gui, qt6-qt5compat, etc.

3.2 The Debian/Ubuntu Mechanism (DEB / APT)

In Debian-based systems (Ubuntu, Debian, Mint):

Debian package management (dpkg and apt) does not query repositories by raw ELF SONAME strings at install time. It requires explicit package names in the Depends: field of debian/control.
If CPack relies exclusively on CPACK_DEBIAN_PACKAGE_SHLIBDEPS ON while Qt was installed from an external SDK or GitHub Actions path (e.g., /home/runner/Qt/...), dpkg-shlibdeps cannot map those shared libraries to system Debian package names. Consequently, Qt packages are omitted from Depends:.
To solve this, SparkNotePad defines CPACK_DEBIAN_PACKAGE_DEPENDS in cmake/PackagingLinux.cmake.

3.3 The 64-bit `time_t` Transition (`t64`)

Starting with Ubuntu 24.04 LTS (Noble) and Debian 13 (Trixie), Debian implemented the 64-bit time_t architecture transition (Y2038 protection), renaming standard runtime libraries:

libqt6core6 ➜ libqt6core6t64
libqt6gui6 ➜ libqt6gui6t64
libqt6widgets6 ➜ libqt6widgets6t64
libqt6network6 ➜ libqt6network6t64
libqt6printsupport6 ➜ libqt6printsupport6t64
libqt6core5compat6 ➜ libqt6core5compat6t64

Meanwhile, Ubuntu 22.04 LTS (Jammy) and Debian 12 (Bookworm) retain the non-t64 package names. SparkNotePad uses Debian’s alternative dependency operator (|):

libqt6core6 (>= 6.2.4) | libqt6core6t64,
libqt6gui6 (>= 6.2.4) | libqt6gui6t64,
libqt6widgets6 (>= 6.2.4) | libqt6widgets6t64,
libqt6network6 (>= 6.2.4) | libqt6network6t64,
libqt6printsupport6 (>= 6.2.4) | libqt6printsupport6t64,
libqt6core5compat6 (>= 6.2.4) | libqt6core5compat6t64,
qt6-qpa-plugins,
libglx0,
libopengl0

This syntax instructs APT to install the classic package on Debian 12 / Ubuntu 22.04, or the t64 package on Ubuntu 24.04+ / Debian 13+.

4. How to Install: The Crucial Tool Difference (`apt` vs. `dpkg`)

Many users historically ran:

# ⚠️ Legacy command: Does NOT resolve or download dependencies from mirrors!
sudo dpkg -i sparknotepad_1.3.5_amd64.deb

dpkg is a low-level package unpacker. It has no network access and cannot query APT repositories. If any dependency is missing, dpkg -i aborts with an unmet dependencies error.

✅ Recommended Modern Installation Command

On Debian 9+, Ubuntu 16.04+, and all modern derivatives:

# ✅ Modern high-level APT command (equivalent to 'dnf install ./file.rpm')
sudo apt install ./sparknotepad_1.3.5_amd64.deb

Note: The leading ./ (or absolute path /path/to/...) is mandatory. It tells apt that the target is a local file rather than a remote repository package name. apt will automatically inspect all dependencies, fetch missing packages from official mirrors, install them, and configure SparkNotePad in a single automated step.

5. Building Packages Locally

5.1 System Prerequisites

Ubuntu 22.04 LTS / Debian 12 (Bookworm)

sudo apt update
sudo apt install -y --no-install-recommends \
    build-essential cmake ninja-build pkg-config \
    qt6-base-dev qt6-base-dev-tools qt6-5compat-dev \
    qt6-tools-dev qt6-tools-dev-tools linguist-qt6 \
    libgl1-mesa-dev libxkbcommon-dev libxkbcommon-x11-0 \
    libfontconfig1-dev libfreetype6-dev libxcb-cursor-dev \
    rpm dpkg-dev

Ubuntu 24.04 LTS (Noble) / Ubuntu 26.04 / Debian 13 (Trixie)

sudo apt update
sudo apt install -y --no-install-recommends \
    build-essential cmake ninja-build pkg-config \
    qt6-base-dev qt6-base-private-dev qt6-base-dev-tools \
    qt6-5compat-dev qt6-tools-dev qt6-tools-dev-tools linguist-qt6 \
    libgl1-mesa-dev libxkbcommon-dev libxkbcommon-x11-0 \
    libfontconfig1-dev libfreetype6-dev libxcb-cursor-dev \
    rpm dpkg-dev

Fedora / RHEL / CentOS Stream

sudo dnf install -y \
    gcc-c++ cmake ninja-build rpm-build pkgconf-pkg-config \
    qt6-qtbase-devel qt6-qt5compat-devel qt6-qttools-devel \
    mesa-libGL-devel libxkbcommon-devel libxkbcommon-x11-devel \
    fontconfig-devel freetype-devel xcb-util-cursor-devel

5.2 Build via CMake Targets

# 1. Configure Release build
cmake -S . -B build -G Ninja -DCMAKE_BUILD_TYPE=Release

# 2. Compile application
cmake --build build --parallel

# 3. Assemble Debian package (.deb)
cmake --build build --target deb

# 4. Assemble Red Hat package (.rpm)
cmake --build build --target rpm

The resulting packages are generated in the build/ root:

build/sparknotepad_1.3.5_amd64.deb
build/sparknotepad-1.3.5-1.x86_64.rpm

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