+ How to Build Debian Packages for Open vSwitch
+ =============================================
+
+This document describes how to build Debian packages for Open vSwitch.
+To install Open vSwitch on Debian without building Debian packages,
+see INSTALL instead.
+
+These instructions should also work on Ubuntu and other Debian
+derivative distributions.
+
+
+Before You Begin
+----------------
+
+Before you begin, consider whether you really need to build packages
+yourself. Debian "wheezy" and "sid", as well as recent versions of
+Ubuntu, contain pre-built Debian packages for Open vSwitch. It is
+easier to install these than to build your own. To use packages from
+your distribution, skip ahead to "Installing .deb Packages", below.
+
+
+Building Open vSwitch Debian packages
+-------------------------------------
+
+You may build from an Open vSwitch distribution tarball or from an
+Open vSwitch Git tree with these instructions.
+
+You do not need to be the superuser to build the Debian packages.
+
+1. Install the "build-essential" and "fakeroot" packages, e.g. with
+ "apt-get install build-essential fakeroot".
+
+2. Obtain and unpack an Open vSwitch source distribution and "cd" into
+ its top level directory.
+
+3. Install the build dependencies listed under "Build-Depends:" near
+ the top of debian/rules. You can install these any way you like,
+ e.g. with "apt-get install".
+
+ Check your work by running "dpkg-checkbuilddeps". If you've
+ installed all the dependencies properly, dpkg-checkbuilddeps will
+ exit without printing anything. If you forgot to install some
+ dependencies, it will tell you which ones.
+
+4. Run:
+
+ fakeroot debian/rules binary
+
+ This will do a serial build that runs the unit tests. If you
+ prefer, you can run a faster parallel build, e.g.:
+
+ DEB_BUILD_OPTIONS='parallel=8' fakeroot debian/rules binary
+
+ If you are in a big hurry, you can even skip the unit tests:
+
+ DEB_BUILD_OPTIONS='parallel=8 nocheck' fakeroot debian/rules binary
+
+5. The generated .deb files will be in the parent directory of the
+ Open vSwitch source distribution.
+
+
+Installing .deb Packages
+------------------------
+
+These instructions apply to installing from Debian packages that you
+built yourself, as described in the previous section, or from packages
+provided by Debian or a Debian derivative distribution such as Ubuntu.
+In the former case, use a command such as "dpkg -i" to install the
+.deb files that you build, and in the latter case use a program such
+as "apt-get" or "aptitude" to download and install the provided
+packages.
+
+You must be superuser to install Debian packages.
+
+1. Start by installing the "openvswitch-switch" and
+ "openvswitch-common" packages. These packages include the core
+ userspace components of the switch.
+
+2. Install an Open vSwitch kernel module. There are multiple ways to
+ do this. In order of increasing manual effort, these are:
+
+ * Use a Linux kernel 3.3 or later, which has an integrated Open
+ vSwitch kernel module.
+
+ The upstream Linux kernel module lacks a few features that
+ are in the third-party module. For details, please see the
+ FAQ, "What features are not available in the Open vSwitch
+ kernel datapath that ships as part of the upstream Linux
+ kernel?".
+
+ * Install the "openvswitch-datapath-dkms" Debian package that
+ you built earlier. This should automatically build and
+ install the Open vSwitch kernel module for your running
+ kernel.
+
+ This option requires that you have a compiler and toolchain
+ installed on the machine where you run Open vSwitch, which
+ may be unacceptable in some production server environments.
+
+ * Install the "openvswitch-datapath-source" Debian package, use
+ "module-assistant" to build a Debian package of the Open
+ vSwitch kernel module for your kernel, and then install that
+ Debian package.
+
+ You can install the kernel module Debian packages that you
+ build this way on the same machine where you built it or on
+ another machine or machines, which means that you don't
+ necessarily have to have any build infrastructure on the
+ machines where you use the kernel module.
+
+ /usr/share/doc/openvswitch-datapath-source/README.Debian has
+ details on the build process.
+
+ * Build and install the kernel module by hand.
+
+Open vSwitch .deb packages not mentioned above are rarely useful.
+Please refer to their individual package descriptions to find out
+whether any of them are useful to you.
+
+
+Bug Reporting
+-------------
+
+Please report problems to bugs@openvswitch.org.
+
git://git.onelab.eu / sliver-openvswitch.git / commitdiff