> Also... look at that guide. Why is it so difficult and obtuse? Why do I have to run so many odd tools
I agree that Debian packaging is difficult/odd/arguably obtuse; I guess it's a legacy matter. Your phrasing can be interpreted as if the guide itself is obtuse, it's not clear :)
> including apparently modifying some file in /etc and running other stuff as root?
It's important to read and understand it fully. Anything you do it as root is required only to run a preview build locally. This is an optional step, so no, one doesn't need to perform admin configurations/operations if they don't want to, although performing a local build is a desirable step.
> In contrast, this was my first contribution to Nixpkgs
This is not a proper comparison, as you're comparing an entirely manual procedure versus using a packaging tool.
A proper (closer) comparison is probably against the tool that the guide references: https://github.com/saveriomiroddi/ppa_packaging, where you just declare all the metadata, and invoke a script that takes care of everything.
All in all, I'm personally puzzled about why there aren't tools around to simplify/automate Debian packaging. I've started the small tool mentioned above (`ppa_packaging`), but I'll likely not continue working on it, as my experience with niche projects is that, while useful in their (narrow) domain, they're very resource-intensive to maintain.
I agree that Debian packaging is difficult/odd/arguably obtuse; I guess it's a legacy matter. Your phrasing can be interpreted as if the guide itself is obtuse, it's not clear :)
> including apparently modifying some file in /etc and running other stuff as root?
It's important to read and understand it fully. Anything you do it as root is required only to run a preview build locally. This is an optional step, so no, one doesn't need to perform admin configurations/operations if they don't want to, although performing a local build is a desirable step.
> In contrast, this was my first contribution to Nixpkgs
This is not a proper comparison, as you're comparing an entirely manual procedure versus using a packaging tool.
A proper (closer) comparison is probably against the tool that the guide references: https://github.com/saveriomiroddi/ppa_packaging, where you just declare all the metadata, and invoke a script that takes care of everything.
All in all, I'm personally puzzled about why there aren't tools around to simplify/automate Debian packaging. I've started the small tool mentioned above (`ppa_packaging`), but I'll likely not continue working on it, as my experience with niche projects is that, while useful in their (narrow) domain, they're very resource-intensive to maintain.