I’m currently working at the Linux migration of the city of Böblingen which is currently pushed forward by Itomig. For our modifications to the client there I thought it would be nice to distribute them as easily as the regular Debian packages. We did not want to write a bunch of scripts that modify the files after installation, or try to create packages that modify other packages file.
So I wrote customdeb, which currently allows you to change the contents and permissions of files inside a debian package, generating a new package (with a local version number) that you can easily distribute to your clients. The changes are specified in a simple, debian/control-like file, which therefore also serve as a documentation of your changes. It either modifies a package that you pass it on the command line or tries to fetch it with dget. More ways to change a package (e.g. adjust dependencies) will be added as soon as I need them (or someone else needs them and sends me a patch).
I think this might be useful for others as well, so I am packaging it for Debian. If you want to try it before it went through the NEW queue, you can find the packages here. Contributions are welcome, but be aware that the perl code is currently written in a not very modular, quick-to-work style. I plan to change that if there is more interest in the program. I have the code in a darcs repository (browse it).
Have something to say? You can post a comment by sending an e-Mail to me at <mail@joachim-breitner.de>, and I will include it here.