Issue
I'm trying to update our installer so a user can simply double-click on a file and have all the dependencies and our software installed easily. This is a suite of applications that will are deployed on a clean Ubuntu 8.04 (Hardy Heron) installation. I have investigated making a .deb file, but listing the dependencies doesn't work, because there isn't any Internet access available. And, any script that would set up a local APT repository would still need to be run from the command line. Is there a way to put a .deb file inside of a .deb file?
I know many companies ship shell scripts that you have to chmod +x, and then execute. This is not acceptable. It is ridiculous that this isn't possible; especially considering the distribution and architecture is fixed.
Solution
A makeself self-extracting executable that starts the install script using sudo will work.
The user can either run it from a terminal (after chmod-ing it) or can double-click it and tell it to "Run" from the prompt.
Answered By - Matt Green