Bug#1063724: postgresql-16-postgis-3-scripts: please make the extension template scripts build reproducibly.

[James Addison]

Package: postgresql-16-postgis-3-scripts
Version: 3.4.1+dfsg-1
Severity: wishlist
User: reproducible-builds at lists.alioth.debian.org
Usertags: timestamps

Dear Maintainer,

I'm an occasional volunteer with the Reproducible Builds[1] project, and
noticed recently that the postgresql-16-postgis-3-scripts package failed to
build reproducibly from source.

The problem seems to occur in some extension template .sql scripts, such as
the 'postgis--TEMPLATED--TO--ANY.sql' file, where the build host's current time
is embedded into a comment at build-time.

There is an existing 'POSTGIS_BUILD_DATE' defined[2] in the configure scripts
that already reads from the recommended SOURCE_DATE_EPOCH[3] environment
variable, and may be reusable here for consistency.

Note: to replicate the problem and/or confirm a fix, it's possible to to
enable the 'reprotest' feature of Salsa CI for the package.

Regards,
James

[1] - https://reproducible-builds.org/

[2] - https://sources.debian.org/src/postgis/3.4.2%2Bdfsg-1/configure.ac/#L1273

[3] - https://wiki.debian.org/ReproducibleBuilds/Howto#Files_in_data.tar_contain_timestamps