Getting dh_install to do what we need

[Josselin Mouette <joss@debian.org>]

For those who haven’t followed, the latest debhelper upload includes the
following change:

   * Debhelper config files may be made executable programs that output the
     desired configuration. No further changes are planned to the config file
     format; those needing powerful syntaxes may now use a programming language
     of their choice. (Be careful aiming that at your feet.)
     Closes: #235302, #372310, #235302, #614731,
     Closes: #438601, #477625, #632860, #642129

So, to sum it up. Before, you would do in debian/rules: 
        sed s/@DEB_HOST_MULTIARCH@/${DEB_HOST_MULTIARCH}/ debian/libfoo.install.in > debian/libfoo.install

Now, you will do in debian/foo.install:
        #! /bin/sh 
        sed s/@DEB_HOST_MULTIARCH@/$(dpkg-architecture -qDEB_HOST_MULTIARCH)/ << EOF
        …
        EOF
(Bonus points for implementing this in a different language for each
package.)

Now that we’ve made incredible progress in terms of obfuscation, I’d
appreciate if we could have a working solution that does not require
scripting for the most trivial operations. So what remains? 
      * Convincing Joey to revert this useless change and actually
        commit something useful. 
      * NMU debhelper. 
      * Technical committee. 
      * Fork dh_install in a new package.

Any comments before someone starts doing either of these?

-- 
 .''`.      Josselin Mouette
: :' :
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