Bug#847974: xmds2: FTBFS in stretch

[Santiago Vila]

Package: src:xmds2
Version: 2.2.2+dfsg-2
Severity: serious

Dear maintainer:

I tried to build this package in stretch with "dpkg-buildpackage -A"
(which is what the "Arch: all" autobuilder would do to build it)
but it failed:

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
[...]
 debian/rules build-indep
dh build-indep --with python2
   dh_testdir -i
   dh_update_autotools_config -i
   dh_auto_configure -i
   dh_auto_build -i
	make -j1
make[1]: Entering directory '/<<BUILDDIR>>/xmds2-2.2.2+dfsg'
make[2]: Entering directory '/<<BUILDDIR>>/xmds2-2.2.2+dfsg/xpdeint'
Setting top to                           : /<<BUILDDIR>>/xmds2-2.2.2+dfsg/xpdeint 
Setting out to                           : /<<BUILDDIR>>/xmds2-2.2.2+dfsg/xpdeint 
Setting top == out (remember to use "update_outputs")
Checking for the Cheetah python module   : ok 

[... snipped ...]

Copyright 2000-2014 Graham Dennis, Joseph Hope, Mattias Johnsson
                    and the xmds team
Generating source code...
... done
Compiling simulation...
... done. Type './lorenz' to run.
Segment 1: minimum timestep: 1.296096e-05 maximum timestep: 4.000000e-03
  Attempted 9669 steps, 0.00% steps failed.
Generating output for lorenz
xsil2graphics2 from xmds2 version 2.2.2 "XMDS2 is a game of two halves" (Debian package 2.2.2+dfsg-2)
Generating output for MATLAB/Octave.
Writing import script for 'lorenz.xsil' to 'lorenz.m'.
octave: X11 DISPLAY environment variable not set
octave: disabling GUI features
warning: the size of octave_hdf5_id is smaller than the size of HDF5 hid_t
warning: called from
    lorenz.m at line 2 column 3
HDF5-DIAG: Error detected in HDF5 (1.10.0-patch1) thread 140615878277440:
  #000: ../../../src/H5G.c line 464 in H5Gopen2(): not a location
    major: Invalid arguments to routine
    minor: Inappropriate type
  #001: ../../../src/H5Gloc.c line 253 in H5G_loc(): invalid object ID
    major: Invalid arguments to routine
    minor: Bad value
HDF5-DIAG: Error detected in HDF5 (1.10.0-patch1) thread 140615878277440:
  #000: ../../../src/H5Gdeprec.c line 796 in H5Gget_num_objs(): not a location ID
    major: Invalid arguments to routine
    minor: Inappropriate type
  #001: ../../../src/H5Gloc.c line 253 in H5G_loc(): invalid object ID
    major: Invalid arguments to routine
    minor: Bad value
HDF5-DIAG: Error detected in HDF5 (1.10.0-patch1) thread 140615878277440:
  #000: ../../../src/H5G.c line 725 in H5Gclose(): not a group
    major: Invalid arguments to routine
    minor: Inappropriate type
error: structure has no member 't'
error: called from
    lorenz.m at line 3 column 8

error: writing file '/sbuild-nonexistent/.octave_hist': No such file or directory
error: ignoring octave_execution_exception while preparing to exit
debian/rules:15: recipe for target 'override_dh_auto_test' failed
make[1]: *** [override_dh_auto_test] Error 1
make[1]: Leaving directory '/<<BUILDDIR>>/xmds2-2.2.2+dfsg'
debian/rules:9: recipe for target 'build-indep' failed
make: *** [build-indep] Error 2
dpkg-buildpackage: error: debian/rules build-indep gave error exit status 2
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The build history I keep is like this:

Status: successful  xmds2_2.2.2+dfsg-2_amd64-20161118T125207Z
Status: successful  xmds2_2.2.2+dfsg-2_amd64-20161123T025916Z
Status: successful  xmds2_2.2.2+dfsg-2_amd64-20161128T001945Z
Status: successful  xmds2_2.2.2+dfsg-2_amd64-20161202T231309Z
Status: failed      xmds2_2.2.2+dfsg-2_amd64-20161207T065906Z
Status: failed      xmds2_2.2.2+dfsg-2_amd64-20161208T214652Z
Status: failed      xmds2_2.2.2+dfsg-2_amd64-20161208T214639Z
Status: failed      xmds2_2.2.2+dfsg-2_amd64-20161208T214702Z

Something happened in stretch between 2016-12-02 and 2016-12-07
that made this package to FTBFS.

Please tell me if you need a full build log, and I will attach it.

(Using sbuild on a single CPU virtual machine, it always fails for me,
on different machines, so it should be easy to reproduce).

Thanks.