[Debian-med-packaging] Bug#841073: python-ruffus: Needs 18 GB of RAM to build

[Santiago Vila]

Package: src:python-ruffus
Version: 2.6.3+dfsg-4
Severity: wishlist

Hello Andreas and debian-med.

I noticed that this package requires 18 GB of RAM to build
(as measured by Committed_AS in /proc/meminfo).

In theory, there is no limit at all regarding how much RAM a package
may need to be built (there is absolutely no policy about that).
[ This is the reason why I'm reporting this as wishlist ].

In practice, packages like this one represent a real challenge.

To put things in perspective: I routinely try to build all source
packages generating at least one "Arch: all" binary package.

I have collected memory usage for 16500 of those, and currently I can
build all of them but this one and "axiom" with only 8 GB of RAM.

This makes python-ruffus to be a real "outlier" (in statistical terms).

Would be possible to change the build system slightly so that this big
amount of memory required to build is reduced significantly?
(say, reducing it to a half or a quarter).

Note: I think it's not the build itself what uses so much memory but
the tests that are performed at the end.

Thanks.