Bug#794295: lintian: please complain about development packages that make cross building impossible

[Helmut Grohne <helmut@subdivi.de>]

On Sun, Dec 10, 2017 at 09:52:41AM +0000, Chris Lamb wrote:
> Hi Helmut,
> 
> > TL;DR: I suggest ignoring Multi-Arch: foreign packages for the purpose of
> > this tag to remove false positives.
> 
> Won't these binaries in /usr/bin (etc.) be picked up by:
> 
>   arch-dependent-file-not-in-arch-specific-directory
> 
> ?

I think you are confusing something here. That tag only fires for
M-A:same packages, but that's a totally different story. If you put
ELF binaries in /usr/bin of a M-A:same package you immediately get a
file conflict.

What I'm trying to say is that it can be legitimate to put ELF binaries
in libdevel packages if such packages are marked M-A:foreign. My initial
request and your initial implementation will thus have false positives.

The tag I am requesting here mostly targets packages that lack any
Multi-Arch header (i.e. not covered by the above tag).

Hope this helps.

Helmut