zoitechat/README.md

ZoiteChat Debian packaging (starter kit)

This folder was generated from Debian's HexChat packaging and then renamed/adjusted for ZoiteChat.

What it gives you:

• debian/ directory with package names, install paths, AppStream ID, and VCS fields updated to ZoiteChat
• Debian-specific patches/default-server overrides removed to reduce patch-fail risk on the fork
• Python plugin package moved to Suggests (since it's known to be unstable in Flatpak builds)

Build on Fedora (recommended via container)

1. From your ZoiteChat repo root (the one that contains meson.build), copy this debian/ directory into it.

2. Build inside a Debian container using Podman:

   podman run --rm -it
   -v "$PWD":/src -w /src
   debian:testing bash

3. In the container:

   apt-get update apt-get install -y --no-install-recommends
   build-essential devscripts equivs ca-certificates

   Install build-deps from debian/control

   mk-build-deps -i -t "apt-get -y --no-install-recommends" debian/control

   Build (binary packages)

   dpkg-buildpackage -us -uc -b

Your .deb files will appear in the parent directory of the repo on the host.

Notes

• If ZoiteChat still uses HexChat’s AppStream IDs or installs plugin metainfo, tweak debian/*.install accordingly.
• If you want the Python plugin excluded entirely, remove the zoitechat-python3 package stanza from debian/control and delete debian/zoitechat-python3.* files.