Bug#844264: release.debian.org: Please clarify "Packages must autobuild without failure"

[Santiago Vila <sanvila@unex.es>]

On Sat, Dec 17, 2016 at 10:48:00AM +0100, Julien Cristau wrote:
> On Thu, Dec 15, 2016 at 21:19:23 +0100, Santiago Vila wrote:
> 
> > Any progress on this?
> > 
> > In case it helps, I made a list of bugs in this FTBFS-randomly category:
> > 
> > https://bugs.debian.org/cgi-bin/pkgreport.cgi?tag=ftbfs-randomly;users=sanvila@debian.org
> > 
> > In almost all cases, the failure happens because there is a test which
> > fails.
> > 
> > So: Why do we allow tests to make the package to fail if we then do
> > not consider the failure to be RC?
> > 
> > IMO, either the program is ok when the test fails, or it's not.
>
> I'm afraid it's more nuanced than this, and trying to make it all white
> or all black is not helpful.

Thanks a lot for replying.

Unfortunately, I'm not sure how to interpret that.

Do you mean it's better not to have a common rule for these bugs and
instead decide on a case by case basis?

Could we please agree, at least, that this is RC in general and
maintainers should ask for stretch-ignore tag? I don't think
this is asking too much.

The alternative is what it's currently happening: "Why bother to ask
for permission to use stretch-ignore tag when you can always downgrade
a RC bug to wishlist?" (Based on what they do, this is what some
maintainers seem to think).

Thanks.