I was thinking about trying to package Matlab (a proprietary piece of software) for Arch Linux by creating a PKGBUILD to handle installation, dependencies, and conflicts. With the standard Matlab Linux installer it places everything in a local directory and does not require many external packages. That said, it provides a number of standard library files (e.g., libgcc_s.so and libstdc++.so) as well as a complete JRE. Can these types of files be removed (possibly replaced by links) and supplied by additional package dependencies?
Repackaging proprietary software
arch linux;packaging;matlab
I try to maintain the PHP App Engine package on AUR and I'm installing it in /opt which was where you should put a self-contained Matlab package (in something like /opt/matlab) and sym-link the executable back to /usr/bin and other stuff back to /usr/share/applications and what not.I would take a look at a few other packages that re-package binaries for arch. Like the Dropbox or Google Chrome packages. The Chrome package in particular depends on the Debian binary so they drop the Debian specifics when installing on arch. On the other hand, if you drop everything into /opt/matlab as-is rather than strip common libraries and the JRE you're much more likely to have a working Matlab that doesn't break or have to be re-tested and re-packaged every time a dependency changes. You could offer two flavours: a Matlab-complete package and a Matlab-minimal package. 