Bug#906790: libtasn1-6 FTBFS during arch-only: missing makeinfo

[Andreas Metzler]

On 2018-08-23 Andreas Metzler <ametzler at bebt.de> wrote:
[...]
> Almost, it is caused by upgrading automake. Building with automake
> 1:1.16.1-1 fails, downgrading to 1:1.15.1-3.1 lets the build succeed.
> Which seems to have hit other packages, too. With one report (#906774)
> reassigned to automake.

> FWIW at first glance I have not found not-too-involved a workaround yet.
> I might be forced to move stuff from Build-Depends-Indep to
> Build-Depends.

Hello,

this is caused mdate-sh.

The rule that checks whether version.texi is up to date runs mdate-sh on
the source texi file and compares whether the result differs from the
current timestamp in version.texi state.[1] If the timestamp differs
version.texi is regenerated and a rebuild of the info documentation is
triggered.

mdate-sh in automake 1:1.16.1-1 has grown "support" for
SOURCE_DATE_EPOCH. If SOURCE_DATE_EPOCH is set in the environment then
its value is used and the modification time of the file is ignored.
Which causes the build-failure by tricking make into thinking the info
file is out of date.

This seems to be a Debian specific change. The patch was already present
in 1:1.15.1-3 (and -3.1) *source* but did not end up changing
usr/share/automake-1.15/mdate-sh. It is however present in 1:1.16.1-1's
/usr/share/automake-1.16/mdate-sh.

cu Andreas

[1]
$(srcdir)/stamp-vti: libtasn1.texi $(top_srcdir)/configure
	@(dir=.; test -f ./libtasn1.texi || dir=$(srcdir); \
	set `$(SHELL) $(top_srcdir)/build-aux/mdate-sh $$dir/libtasn1.texi`; \
	echo "@set UPDATED $$1 $$2 $$3"; \
	echo "@set UPDATED-MONTH $$2 $$3"; \
	echo "@set EDITION $(VERSION)"; \
	echo "@set VERSION $(VERSION)") > vti.tmp$$$$ && \
	(cmp -s vti.tmp$$$$ $(srcdir)/version.texi \
	  || (echo "Updating $(srcdir)/version.texi" && \
	      cp vti.tmp$$$$ $(srcdir)/version.texi.tmp$$$$ && \
	      mv $(srcdir)/version.texi.tmp$$$$ $(srcdir)/version.texi)) && \
	rm -f vti.tmp$$$$ $(srcdir)/version.texi.$$$$
	@cp $(srcdir)/version.texi $@
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