I'm getting started preparing an installation script for a software package onto an Ubuntu server. I would like to write a script as a .deb package that is aware of dependencies that must be installed beforehand (a database, web server, etc.).
Can you recommend any tutorials/resources to help a newbie developer get started writing deb packages?
Update: Canonical has a thorough Packaging Guide which explains the process very well.
Earlier question at stackoverflow:
How to build a Debian/Ubuntu package from source?
If you plan to install some software with their dependencies, you don't really need to make a .deb package. A Shell script should work, calling the package manager to resolve dependencies, etc.
The default Shell on Ubuntu is Bash. If you don't know how to do it, here is a basic tutorial and an advanced guide.
Hope it helps.
If you are entirely new to building Debian packages, I suggest that you look at the Debian New Maintainers' Guide and use the Debian Developer's Reference as reference. As a starting point, dh_make (from the dh-make package) should give you a good template to work with.