Bug#193566: still confused about the root of the problem

[Ross Boylan <ross@biostat.ucsf.edu>]

Since I find apt-listchanges very handy, and since it's been quite some time since it could install properly 
in testing, I'm trying to understand what the issue is.  Apparently the inability to install python-apt 
is behind the inability to install apt-listchanges.  Having read this and related bug reports, I'm still
confused.  If anyone could clarify, that would be great.

Starting with the practical issues:
1) Any idea how long this will last?
2) Are there workarounds, either in terms of other ways to get the same functionality as apt-listchanges or 
building some sid source packages in the testing distribution?  Which ones?

And then the confusion:
I see that the current testing version is not compatible with the version of python in testing.
After seeing that the package includes .so files, I guess I understand why it's tied to a specific
version of python.

3) However, the version in unstable would work, if it were in testing, wouldn't it?  So the question is why
the package hasn't migrated down.  The reason appears to have nothing to do with the issues discussed in this 
thread; the problem is it won't build on arm.  
http://buildd.debian.org/fetch.php?&pkg=python-apt&ver=0.5.5.1&arch=arm&stamp=1057233478&file=log&as=raw shows 
the package is trying to build with gcc3.2, even though it says
Toolchain package versions: binutils_2.14.90.0.4-0.1 gcc-3.3_1:3.3.1-0pre0 g++-3.3_1:3.3.1-0pre0 
libstdc++5_1:3.3.1-0pre0 libstdc++5-3.3-dev_1:3.3.

I don't know anything about arm-specific issues (e.g., is gcc 3.3 broken on arm?), but isn't this the cause of 
the problem?  Here, by "the problem" I mean "why can't I install the testing package for python-apt?" rather
than "why can't I install the particular version of python-apt that is currently in testing?"

By the way, I'm on AMD (=intel386) architecture.

Oops, I realized arm may just be the first reported failure and there could be others.  But it does look as if 
it built OK for i386.

Thanks for any clarification you can offer.