Re: Is this a bug in dpkg-source
On Wed, 22 Jan 1997, Shaya Potter wrote:
>
> I don't think dpkg-source works for debian only packages. I just tries
> unpacking adduser, and it complained about some object file being in the
> archive, but when I unpacked it manually, I couldn't find any thing.
>
> The exact error is
>
> $ dpkg-source -x adduser*.dsc
> dpkg-source: error: tarfile `./adduser_2.13.tar.gz' contains object
> (adduser-2.11/) not in expected directory (adduser-2.13)
>
Is it a bug? Well, yes and no. Yes it's a bug, but it's not real clear
where. Let me explain. I ran into this once with seesat5 (also a debian
only package), so although this is just a guess, it is an educated one.
The bug could be considered to be in dpkg-source because it gives no
warning when building the source.tar.gz file that there is a problem.
What has most likely happened is that the maintainer made modifications,
added them to the changelog (thus creating the newer version number) and
built the package without renaming the source tree head. When dpkg-source
finds only the old tree, it quietly tars it up and slaps the version
number on the name from what it finds in the changes log. Only when the
source is unpacked does the problem rear it's ugly head.
Now clearly this problem would have been avoided (at least we would be
talking about why the package wouldn't build) by an appropriate error
message in dpkg-source, but it is also pretty clear that the most
immediate way to deal with this is to rename the source tree head and
rebuild the package. If the error message had occured, this would already
have been done, but it is an immediate work around for now.
This brings up a general problem with the way packaging is being managed
and tested. We have too quickly forgotten that this is a new packaging
system in many respects and we should keep our testing broad.
What this means in this instance is that whenever a new source is to be
uploaded (and this is every time for debian only packages, while only
occuring with a new upstream source for the rest of them) the packager
need to test the extraction process and verify that a debian source tree
can be properly built from the tar.gz, diff, and dsc files.
What gets discovered in this testing should be the basis for changes in
the build scripts that trap, or remove the problems that we find.
Luck,
Dwarf
------------ --------------
aka Dale Scheetz Phone: 1 (904) 656-9769
Flexible Software 11000 McCrackin Road
e-mail: dwarf@polaris.net Tallahassee, FL 32308
------------ If you don't see what you want, just ask --------------
--
TO UNSUBSCRIBE FROM THIS MAILING LIST: e-mail the word "unsubscribe" to
debian-devel-REQUEST@lists.debian.org . Trouble? e-mail to Bruce@Pixar.com
Reply to: