# Package Creation Procedure

## New Standard Workflow (as of 2025-12-13)

1. **Build Format**: Always build packages as `.tar.gz` first.
   - Do NOT build directly as `.ipk`.
   - The `.tar.gz` must contain: `debian-binary`, `control.tar.gz`, `data.tar.gz`.

2. **Verification**:
   - Verify the `.tar.gz` can be extracted using standard `tar -xzf`.
   - Check contents of extracted archive.

3. **Finalize**:
   - Only AFTER verification is successful, rename the `.tar.gz` file to `.ipk`.

## Why?
This ensures the package structure is valid and compatible with standard archive tools before being deployed, preventing "malformed package" errors on some systems.