* Martin Pitt <mpitt@debian.org>, 2014-03-20, 11:17:
autopkgtest calls dpkg-buildpackage to do the actual package build, so for adding this to autopkgtest explicitly, we could add a flag for that and call dpkg-buildpackage --target.If by "a flag" you meant "a new restriction", then it sounds good to me. :)I actually mean a new optional field, as the build target is not really a restriction.
What I had in mind is that instead of Tests: foo Restrictions: build-needed you could write something akin Tests: foo Restrictions: partial-build-needed(I don't actually need the flexibility of choosing my own target name; but I don't mind it either.)
I. e. either Tests: foo Build-Target: testonly [...]Or we actually use the "Features:" field for that; so far there are no defined features, but it could perhaps look likeTests: foo Features: build-target=testonly Which would then expect a "testonly" debian/rules target.
I like the idea of adding a new feature. It is better for backwards compatibility than adding new restriction or a new field. Older test runners, who don't grok the new feature yet, will simply ignore it, and everything will still work (only slightly slower).
-- Jakub Wilk