Build-Depends-Indep and build target

[Joachim Reichel <joachim.reichel@gmx.de>]

Hi,

section 7.6 of the policy states that Build-Depends-Indep must be
satisfied if the build target is invoked. Consider the log file of
core++ on ia64:

http://experimental.debian.net/fetch.php?&pkg=core%2B%2B&ver=1.7-6&arch=ia64&stamp=1165413626&file=log&as=raw

The build target is invoked, but Build-Depends-Indep is not satisfied
(at the beginning you can see that the dependencies are not checked),
and the build fails when invoking latex (at the very end).

Why does the autobuilder not respect the Build-Depends-Indep when
invoking build?

At first, I did not realize that the autobuilder does not conform to
policy, so I prepared a new revision of the package, splitting the build
target into build-arch and build-indep. build depends on build-arch and
build-indep. binary-arch depends on build-arch.

"fakeroot debian/rules binary-arch" works as expected.

"dpkg-buildpackage -rfakeroot -B" unfortunately invokes the build target
(instead of build-arch), which also invokes build-indep, but still it works.

Now, if my sponsor uploads this package, it will still fail, right? If
Build-Depends-Indep is not satisfied by accident, the build will fail
again ...

So what should I do?

Regards,
  Joachim