[Debian-med-packaging] biosig4c++ packaging in debian

[Andreas Tille]

Hi Alois,

thanks a lot for your contribution.

On Sat, Jul 18, 2020 at 09:48:17PM +0200, Alois Schlögl wrote:
> please find attached a patch for debian packaging of biosig4c++.
> swig and libxml2 are not used by biosig anymore, and the watch file need
> to be addapted.
> 
> There is a new release of biosig available, and I want to make you aware
> of some major changes in the structure of the source code. Specifically,
> biosig4c++ and biosig4octmat are now combined in a single source release.
> 
> 1) I'd like to suggest changing the source package name
> from "biosig4c++" to "biosig" (This would get rid of the "++" in the
> package name, which can cause issues sometimes)

I admit changing the source package name just for "esthetical reasons"
is not the best idea.  The package would have to pass the Debian new
queue and this usually takes time (and work).  So I would love to avoid
this.
 
> 2) For new users, there is now a potential confusion about
> "biosig4octave" and "mexbiosig".  I've set up some documentation about this
> 
> https://sourceforge.net/p/biosig/wiki/Installation/
> https://sourceforge.net/p/biosig/wiki/Usage/
> https://sourceforge.net/p/biosig/wiki/FAQ/
> 
> I'm not sure what the best approach for packaging this in Debian is,
> maybe both should be combined in octave-biosig ? If you agree, I could
> come up with package description.

I admit I have no idea about octave packages but from my gut feeling
having an octave-biosig package seems to be sensible.
 
> 3) It would be great, if it would be possible to setup matlab-biosig
> using the "matlab-support" package. What do you think ?

I have no idea, sorry.

> 4) besides Octave, Python and Matlab, there are also language bindings
> to Java, R, and Mathematica included. These can be already useful, but
> are not much tested. I'm not sure whether additional Debian packages
> (java-biosig, R-biosig) should be setup at this stage of development.
> I guess I'd make this dependend on the fact how much work this would be.
 
We could do this at user request.  In case we might need additional
binary packages this would also require passing Debian new queue and
when doing so changing the source package name should be considered.
 
> If you have any questions or suggestions, please let me know.

I have applied your patch (thanks for this!) and upgraded to the new
upstream package in Git[1].  My attemt to build the package ended in

...
x86_64-linux-gnu-gcc -pthread -shared -Wl,-O1 -Wl,-Bsymbolic-functions -Wl,-z,relro -g -fwrapv -O2 -Wl,-z,relro -Wl,-z,now -g -O2 -fdebug-prefix-map=/build/biosig4c++-2.0.4=. -fstack-protector-strong -Wformat -Werror=format-security -I/build/biosig4c++-2.0.4 -Wdate-time -D_FORTIFY_SOURCE=2 build/temp.linux-x86_64-3.8/biosigmodule.o -L./.. -lbiosig -o build/lib.linux-x86_64-3.8/biosig.cpython-38-x86_64-linux-gnu.so
/usr/lib/python3.8/distutils/dist.py:274: UserWarning: Unknown distribution option: 'long_description_content_type'
  warnings.warn(msg)
/usr/lib/python3.8/distutils/dist.py:274: UserWarning: Unknown distribution option: 'include_package_data'
  warnings.warn(msg)
/usr/lib/python3.8/distutils/dist.py:274: UserWarning: Unknown distribution option: 'install_requires'
  warnings.warn(msg)
make[3]: Leaving directory '/build/biosig4c++-2.0.4/biosig4c++/python'
make[2]: Leaving directory '/build/biosig4c++-2.0.4'
: # Assure additional interesting to us pieces are built
make LIBEXT=so libbiosig.so mex4o biosig4python
make[2]: Entering directory '/build/biosig4c++-2.0.4'
make[2]: *** No rule to make target 'libbiosig.so'.  Stop.
make[2]: Leaving directory '/build/biosig4c++-2.0.4'
make[1]: *** [debian/rules:25: override_dh_auto_build] Error 2


I wonder whether you might like to create a login on salsa.debian.org
and commit any needed changes directly.  Given that you provided a
helpful patch you are sufficently comfortable with Debian packaging.
 
> Best regards,
>    Alois

Kind regards and thanks again for your contribution

    Andreas.


[1] https://salsa.debian.org/med-team/biosig4c 

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