HOW TO CREATE A SI M PLE MyD SL APPLICATIO N

Cre a t e d by cliv e s a y fro m th e DSL for u m s

This how to will cove r cr e a t i n g a simpl e .dsl file by usin g apt- get and the
deb 2 d s l scri p t cre a t e d by cb a g g e r 0 1 . Ther e ar e diffe r e n t met h o d s for
cre a t i n g a myd sl ap plic a tio n , with som e bein g mor e com plic a t e d th a n
oth e r s . We will just stick to th e basic s her e.

It's impo r t a n t to re m e m b e r th a t for an applic a ti o n to be a MyDSL
applic a ti o n it mu s t be able to run on a bas e DSL enviro n m e n t with no oth e r
applic a ti o n s inst alle d . If oth e r ap plic a t i o n s ar e nee d e d like the pyth o n . u ci ,
tha t mus t be sp ecifie d in the info file if the applic a t i o n is to be su b m i t t e d to
the DSL com m u n i t y .

Let's get sta r t e d .

Fir s t we hav e to decid e wh a t ap plic a ti o n we wan t to inst all. For this
exa m p l e we' r e goin g to inst all a sm all sim pl e pro g r a m calle d 'xea r t h ' .

Next we'll nee d to en a bl e apt. Do th a t in the DSL me n u as show n belo w. It's
the nex t to last item .

Onc e th at has co m pl e t e d we nee d to apt- get inst all xea r t h .

We now hav e xea r t h inst all e d on you r syst e m . You can typ e in 'xea r t h ' to
ru n it an d see if it's wor kin g . If it's wor kin g , we' r e rea d y for the next ste p.

NOTE: The de b 2 d s l scrip t is inst all e d on your syst e m as par t of dsl- dpk g . d s l.
This pack a g e was
inst alle d wh e n you en a b l e d ap t- get.

We'r e rea d y to ru n the scrip t. We will ne e d to ope n a xter m sessio n as use r

dsl. DO NOT ru n this scrip t as root. It will not wor k. You mu s t be use r dsl.

Type in the com m a n d '/us r / bi n/ d e b 2 d s l ' and pr e s s the < e n t e r > key.

The first thin g we nee d to do it ent e r the na m e of our pac k a g e . We'll call it
xe a r t h . d s l . Pr es s the < e n t e r > key.

Ent e r how you wan t the ap plic a ti o n to ap p e a r in th e MyDSL me n u . Pr es s
the < e n t e r > key.

Now we nee d to ent e r the pat h to exec u t e the pro g r a m . The easie s t way to
do this is to ope n a shell an d typ e 'wh e r e i s xea r t h ' .

You can see her e tha t it looks like it's exec u t e d fro m /usr/X11R6/bin /xearth .
We'll ent e r this pat h into th e deb 2 d s l scrip t.

After you'v e en t e r e d the pat h pre s s th e < e n t e r > key. The scri p t will now
ru n an d cre a t e you r .dsl file. The scri p t uses the files fro m the /ap t/ a r c h iv e s
dir e c t o r y to cre a t e the ap plic a t i o n .

After this has com pl e t e d you sho ul d hav e an xea r t h . d s l file in your /hom e / d s l
dir e c t o r y . Place this file in a safe plac e , reb o o t to a bas e DSL syste m an d
inst all the file to see if it wor k s !

If you wan t to sub m i t the file to the DSL com m u n i t y , the r e ar e thr e e
additio n a l step s .

1. cre a t e an .info file with th e au t h o r info and any sp eci al inst r u c t i o n s . You
can look at th e info
file for oth e r applic a ti o n s for style.

2. Cre a t e a md 5 s u m file of th e ap plic a ti o n . This can be don e in a ter m i n a l by
typin g 'md 5 s u m
xea r t h . d s l > xea r t h . m d 5 s u m . t x t '

3. Email the thr e e files to ext e n s i o n s @ d a m n s m a l l l i n u x . o r g .

I hop e this was helpf ul!