I've been using Debian for over 10 years and I still love it as a user. But as a developer, I find it extremely frustrating. I've several times attempted to figure out how to package my open-source projects [1] [2] for Debian but the process is a nightmare. As I understand it, I first have to find someone with appropriate privileges to mentor me. I should be able to just submit a potential package for review.
Then there is a ton of documentation on creating packages but which 300 page guide is the right one to use is unclear. And which set of packaging tools should I use? In the end, the time investment required to get started has kept me from contributing.
Agreed, I've tried and failed to make Debian packages, and have no idea how to proceed.
In contrast, with Gentoo and their documentation, it was straightforward for me to make my own additional, separate repo, look at other ebuilds to see how packaging works, and have everything just work.
https://github.com/billsix/billsix-portage
I submit ebuilds to Gentoo itself if I think others would benefit.
As far as I can tell, packaging for Arch is straightforward as well.
https://linuxconfig.org/easy-way-to-create-a-debian-package-...
And then a quality of life enhancement says push the package building off to FPM.
https://github.com/jordansissel/fpm
Personal Repo
https://www.digitalocean.com/community/tutorials/how-to-use-...