Re: cross-building OpenJDK and JNI bindings

[Helmut Grohne <helmut@subdivi.de>]

On Wed, Mar 27, 2019 at 03:24:27PM +0100, Thorsten Glaser wrote:
> Yes, but these are all arch:all already, so unless they have not-arch:all
> dependencies, this ought to work (I really can’t think of a way to
> implement something in arch:all with only arch:all dependencies that
> doesn’t work as M-A:foreign). Testing is likely still appreciated ☻

I'm kinda tired of debunking this argument, but let me give counter
examples again:

 * locales #669188
 * Package a shell script that calls `uname -m'. Its output will be
   architecture dependent even though the package can be arch:all.
   + haskell-devscripts do a variant of this.
   + dh-ocaml does a variant of this.

If this was automatable, we'd do it already. Unfortunately, multiarch is
about interfaces and Debian has a tradition of not explaining what the
interface of a package is. We define the interface by reassigning bugs
back and forth between consumer and provider. We'll be having problems
for as long as we're unclear about interfaces. autopkgtest improves the
situation a little.

Helmut