Bug#815999: apt: please add an option to emulate debian buildd behaviour for apt-get build-dep

[Johannes Schauer <josch@debian.org>]

Package: apt
Version: 1.1.10
Severity: wishlist

Hi,

in Debian, buildds (and also sbuild) mangle build dependencies when
creating a dummy package for apt. In particular, sbuild removes all
build dependency alternatives except for the first.

The only exception to this rule is, when subsequent alternatives have
the same name as the first alternative. In this case, those are also
added to the OR.

Here is the relevant code in sbuild:

http://sources.debian.net/src/sbuild/0.68.0-1/lib/Sbuild/ResolverBase.pm/#L888

This means:

foo | bar -> foo
foo | blub | foo -> foo | foo

In practice, this is done such that constructs like:

foo (>> 1) | foo (<< 2)

are not reduced to

foo (>> 1)

But as you can see, the relevant code in sbuild never checks if the
respective dependencies are versioned or not.

Thanks!

cheers, josch