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Re: Problems with apt-cross -- libcache-apt-perl doesn't parse apt-cache output properly



On Mon, 8 Nov 2010 14:26:30 -0500
Jim Heck <pinball.rules@gmail.com> wrote:

putting back onto the list...

> On Mon, Nov 8, 2010 at 2:08 PM, Neil Williams <codehelp@debian.org>
> wrote:
> > Ah, I knew there were dependency problems, I didn't know this was
> > part of
> them.

The suite constraint is a direct result of the dependency resolution
problems - removing the constraint merely reveals the deeper issues.

> > apt-cross and libcache-apt-perl are being removed from Squeeze in
> > less than 2 days because these problems are not fixable. apt-cross
> > was more or less limping along until disruptive changes were
> > introduced into apt *after* the release freeze had started.
> >
> > So if these packaes are going, is xapt coming into Squeeze?  I

NO.

xapt exists as a script in /usr/share/pdebuild-cross at a version which
was only tested in disposable pbuilder chroots.

An updated version of xapt has been being developed since these problems
arose but there never was a realistic chance of getting a NEW package
into Squeeze after the freeze.

<rant>The reality is simple: the changes in apt to support non-free
32bit Flash on x86_64 were deemed more important than the loss of
cross-building support for free software in Squeeze. Cross-building is
not sufficiently important compared to Wine and Adobe support. Nice.
</rant>

The plan was always to remove apt-cross after Squeeze and replace it
smoothly with xapt or something else. That plan evaporated as soon as
apt 0.8.0 migrated into Squeeze - a month after the release freeze
started.

http://packages.qa.debian.org/a/apt/news/20100903T163912Z.html

We were ready for the freeze - apt 0.7.x was fine with apt-cross but
everything went wrong when apt 0.8 was allowed a freeze exception at a
time when a NEW package would not be allowed into Squeeze. We just have
to make do.

> > thought I
> had read an update saying it was too late to get it in with the
> freeze.  If so, will there be no cross tool in the actual Squeeze
> release?

Correct.

*There will be no cross-dependency support in Squeeze outside a
pbuilder chroot.*

> My use of apt-cross is very simple, so I haven't been bitten by the
> dependency issues.

In that case, xapt will actually be a reasonable alternative,
especially if your base system is stable. Simple is good as far as xapt
is concerned because it is a very simple tool.

>  I'm happy to use the local patch for now and then
> migrate towards xapt, but I need to understand if I must install this
> from outside the actual release

Yes, you will - unless you are OK doing all your cross-building inside
a pbuilder chroot.

> (I had been trying to stay "stock"
> Squeeze).  I imagine I just need to add the tool repository to my
> sources.list, correct?

The version of xapt available from Emdebian is in the same repository
as the toolchains, albeit in unstable and testing only, so you
probably have that repository in your sources already:

deb http://www.emdebian.org/debian squeeze main

$ sudo apt-get install xapt

If you're using the Lenny toolchains on Squeeze, you don't need to
upgrade your toolchains to those in the Emdebian repository for
Squeeze. 

http://www.emdebian.org/toolchains/search.php?arch=i386&distro=sid&package=xapt

http://www.emdebian.org/toolchains/search.php?arch=i386&distro=squeeze&package=xapt

You can download the xapt package from there. The only dependencies to
check are: dpkg-cross (you should already have that) and
libconfig-inifiles-perl (which is a dependency of multistrap). I've got
some updates to allow xapt to work on Lenny too. Once Squeeze is
released, I'll see about a backport of xapt.

The Emdebian toolchain repository does not implement a freeze, so
developments in xapt will continue to be uploaded into that repository
(unstable and testing).

Sorry about this. There was nothing I or anyone in Emdebian could do.
apt changed fundamental behaviour at a time when some reverse
dependencies were prevented from handling such a change.

-- 


Neil Williams
=============
http://www.linux.codehelp.co.uk/

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