To create a quick and dirty Debian or RPM package, check out `checkinstall`! Be forewarned though that this isn't the recommended way of creating packages. This post on [AskUbuntu](https://askubuntu.com/questions/1138384/why-is-checkinstall-no-longer-being-maintained) gives good reasons for why. Though if it is between running a `make install` or running this utility, I would consider running `checkinstall` instead.
This program works by tracking all the files installed by a `make install` equivalent. This makes it easy to remove later on.
To install on a debian based distribution,
```bash
sudo apt install checkinstall
```
Then you can go to the directory that you normally `make install` and instead run the following to make a Debian package.
```bash
sudo checkinstall -D --install=no --nodoc
```
It will ask you to fill in various metadata such as name and author, and then it will create a package you can install!
To install,
```bash
sudo dpkg -i filename.deb
```
You can later remove it with apt.
```bash
sudo apt remove package_name
```
If the application does not use `make install`, then you can add extra arguments to denote its equivalent
