The document provides guidance on packaging applications for the Maemo platform. It discusses finding software to package, creating the initial package files and structure using dh_make, the necessary files like changelog, copyright and control, how debhelper automates common packaging tasks, tracking dependencies, and other tools that can help like pbuilder and cowbuilder. While Maemo uses Debian packaging tools, it is not Debian and has its own build systems and conventions that allow it to innovate independently from Debian.