Bug#913229: release.debian.org: RC status of merged-/usr bugs?

[Niels Thykier <niels@thykier.net>]

Simon McVittie:
> Package: release.debian.org
> Severity: normal
> User: md@linux.it
> Usertags: usrmerge
> 
> debootstrap in >= buster produces merged-/usr chroots for buster and sid
> by default. Some packages are misbuilt in such chroots: the only concrete
> example I have that is currently open is <https://bugs.debian.org/913226>
> in quilt, in which a package built in a merged-/usr environment will
> work on merged-/usr systems but won't work (at all) on a non-merged-/usr
> system.
> 
> There are almost certainly others; [...]
> 
> If binary packages in the archive don't work on a non-merged-/usr system,
> is that a RC bug in the binary packages? [...]
> 
>     smcv
> 

Hi Simon,

Thanks for bringing the issue to our attention.

TL;DR summary:

  Can we effectively/measurably answer "which packages are affected?"
  (or "when do we know that all packages work when built-in in a
   merged-/usr?")?

As I understand it, what this question effectively ends up being is "Do
we commit to supporting merged-/usr in Buster in all source packages
(making such bugs RC) OR do we rollback the default merged-/usr in
debootstrap (making them non-RC)?".

To answer such a question at this point in the release cycle, we need to
understand the number of affected packages to tell whether it is
realistic to complete this by the freeze (regardless of which "part" of
the freeze we choose as deadline for it).

In the absence of a clear way to define "when is everything fixed", I
gut feeling is that we might be opening pandora's box right before a
release.

Thanks,
~Niels