Issue
I'm trying to create packages for some robot controller code that will support different architectures, such as i386 and armhf (for Raspberry Pi). I don't know how Debian intends this to be done. Is there a way to create a single .deb package that contains both binaries? Or must I create a separate .deb package for each architecture, which I do know how to do?
In the latter case, if I give the two packages the same package name, I can't put them both in the same repository, but if they have different names, users will have to specify which package they want to install using apt-get. Is there a solution to this problem?
Solution
You need to have different binary packages for different architectures unless what you're packaging is interpreted and not compiled.
If the package you're making is compatible with all architectures, then the Architecture: field of your debian/control file must be any. This is telling you that the package can be built in any Debian supported architecture. Then you'll just compile it and cross-compile it to i386 and armhf.
About your second question, you can. In fact, this is how is done in the official Debian repositories. The binary packages have a suffix in the file name containing the architecture. See this example. When users install your package, they won't need to specify the architecture as it's automatically detected.
Answered By - rul
