[Reproducible-builds] Bug#775696: getdns: please make the build reproducible

[Maria Valentina Marin]

Source: getdns
Version: 0.1.5-1
Severity: wishlist
User: reproducible-builds at lists.alioth.debian.org
Usertags: timestamps

Hi!

While working on the “reproducible builds” effort [1], I have noticed
that getdns could not be built reproducibly.

The file /usr/include/getdns/getdns.h includes the define
GETDNS_COMPILATION_COMMENT which contains a timestamp which is generated at
build time. This makes getdns not build reproducibly. 

I see three ways to solve this problem:

 1. The define could simply be removed from getdns.h as it might not used by
anybody. According to codesearch.d.n it is not used by any other package in
Debian.

 2. The $CURRENT_DATE could be removed from the string in configure.ac, hoping
that nobody tries to parse GETDNS_COMPILATION_COMMENT.

 3. The $CURRENT_DATE variable in configure.ac could be filled by the fixed time
stamp from the most recent entry in d/changelog.

If you can advice which method you would prefer, then I can prepare a patch.

Thanks!

Cheers, akira 

 [1]: https://wiki.debian.org/ReproducibleBuilds