If you are building a package from source on Debian or Ubuntu, usually the first step is to install the build-dependencies of the package. This is usually done with one of two commands:
$ sudo apt-get build-dep PKGNAME
or
$ sudo aptitude build-dep PKGNAME
The problem is that there is no easy way to undo or revert the installation of the build dependencies. All the installed packages are marked as manually installed, so later one cannot simply expect to “autoremove” those packages. Webupd8 suggests clever one-liner that tries to parse the build dependencies out of apt-cache and mark them as automatically installed. However, as mentioned in the comments, it may be too liberal in marking packages as automatically installed, and hence remove too many packages.
The real solution is mk-build-deps. First you have to install it:
$ sudo apt install devscripts
Now, instead of using apt-get or aptitude directly to install the build-dependencies, use mk-build-deps.
$ mk-build-deps PKGNAME --install --root-cmd sudo --remove
mk-build-deps will create a new package, called PKGNAME-build-deps, which depends on all the build-dependencies of PKGNAME and then install it, therefore pulling all the build-dependencies and installing them as well. As those packages are now installed as dependencies they are marked as automatically installed. Once, you no longer need the build-dependencies, you can remove the package PKGNAME-build-deps, and apt will autoremove all the build-dependencies which are no longer necessary.
Hey, there is a mistake. When I typed in “sudo apt install devscripts”, it said “command not found”. However, it has succeeded after I changing it into “sudo apt-get install devscripts”.
Fred – there is no mistake, but the version you use is outdated as hell.