[Debian-med-packaging] Bug#1091921: routine-update: Use `dh_assistant` instead of ad-hoc debhelper compat parsing

[Niels Thykier]

Package: routine-update
Severity: wishlist
X-Debbugs-Cc: niels at thykier.net


I noticed that `routine-update` is doing its own parsing of the 
`debhelper` compat levels. Furthermore, it is not aware of the third way 
of setting compat levels (that replaces `debian/compat` for experimental 
compat levels - you can see it in use in the `debhelper` source code).

I would recommend that you migrate the script to use:
    dh_assistant active-compat-level

from sid/testing or stable-backports.

It will produce JSON output like:

{
"active-compat-level": 13,
"declared-compat-level": 13,
"declared-compat-level-source": "Build-Depends: debhelper-compat (= 13)"
}

With `declared-compat-level` and possibly `declared-compat-level-source` 
being what you are interested in. The `active-compat-level` also 
accounts for the `DH_COMPAT` ENV variable, which will not be relevant in 
your case (as that variable would only be used inside `d/rules`; not 
outside it).

For packages without compat levels at all, the command still succeeds 
but each affected attribute is then set to `null`.

More documentation at `man dh_assistant`.


You may also find `dh_assistant supported-compat-levels` relevant as it 
provides you with information about compat levels. Such as the latest 
stable one, or the minimum supported compat level for
`debhelper-compat (= X)` relations.


Best regards,
Niels
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