qemu2deb

Compiling/packaging/installing QEMU on the Raspberry Pi and other Linux computers made easier than ever.

Installation and usage:

1. Download the deb file from the latest release here.
   1a) You need to install python3-pip as root and then run pip3 install meson as root for the installation to succeed.
2. Install it using this command: sudo dpkg -i qemu2deb*.deb or using your favorite graphical app/command.
3. to run the qemu2deb script, type the following in terminal (works from any location): qemu2deb
   For a full walkthrough, read USAGE.md
   NOTE: don't run the script as root! if you do, the script will warn you and exit.
   if you have passwordless root access disabled, you will have to enter your password at least once while running the script.

How it works

First the script asks you where is your working directory, then if you tell it QEMU isn't compiled and installed yet, it will compile and install it. after it has the QEMU directory and your working directory and QEMU is installed on your system, it will copy all the QEMU files to a temporary folder, create the DEBIAN/control file and package the temporary folder to a deb using dpkg-deb. after packaging is complete, the script will clean up after itself.

Changelog

compatibility list:

OS's

• RPiOS and RPiOS based OS's for the pi (like TwisterOS).
• Debian and Debian based OS's (including Ubuntu and Ubuntu based OS's of course).
• Android with Termux.

Architectures

• all common architectures (armhf, arm64, x86/i386 and x86_64/x64/amd64).

have a fix, suggestion or a bug to report? feel free to open a issue or a Pull request!

FAQ:

Q = question
A = answer

Q:

why did you create this script?

A:

because compiling QEMU on the Raspberry Pi takes over an hour and the version in the repos is really old, and I wanted to have a easy and fast way to install QEMU because I switch OS's a lot. first I tried using checkinstall, but it didn't work, so after trying a lot of fixes and ways I decided to create the deb manually. I tracked down all the qemu files on my system, put them in a folder, created the DEBIAN/control file, and pakaged it. to my surprise it worked, but I got a error that the bios wasn't found. after searching a bit I found the issue: broken links. I found the files the links pointed to and copied them over to the folder, then packaged it again. this time I messed up the two debs, so I deleted both debs, and packaged one again. this time it worked! so I started to write this script for my own use. once I saw how well it was working and how much time it was saving me, I decided to make a repo for it so other people can use it. I hope you enjoy using this script and find it as useful as I find it, it took me a week to get it working correctly, and almost a whole year of trying different ways to package QEMU, and I don't want anyone else to have to go through this.