Bug#814680: RFS: stp/2.1.2+dfsg-1 [ITP] -- Simple theorem prover

[Afif Elghraoui]

على الأربعاء 24 شباط 2016 ‫23:34، كتب Marko Dimjašević:
> 
> Thank you for taking a look at the package!
>

No problem.

> 
>> I took a look at it and found some issues. The first is the requirement
>> of the additional file stp_2.1.2+dfsg.orig-outputcheck.tar.gz. You
>> should not be directly using anything outside the packaging directory.
> 
> The archive corresponds to OutputCheck, a build dependency that runs
> STP's regression tests. OutputCheck doesn't have a Debian package, and
> based on my discussion with upstream developers and a Debian developer
> that sponsored the first upload of STP to New, this was the proposed
> approach. OutputCheck is, to the best of our knowledge, used only by
> STP, and the upstream developers have a plan of re-basing STP tests on a
> different testing framework soon. Furthermore, OutputCheck is not
> actively developed any more.
> 
> I also found examples of other Debian packages being done in the same
> way - having a small build dependency shipped as an archive. I don't
> have a reference supporting that, but my memory tells me I saw an
> example with a Debian Perl package.
>

Ah, yes, ok. Thanks for clarifying that. This is a multiple upstream
tarball package [1]. The last time I checked this, it wasn't
well-supported with git-buildpackage [2], which would explain why I
don't have the necessary supplemental tarball (and why the build
consequently fails for me).

I don't have experience with multiple upstream tarballs myself, so I'll
have to look up some things. I'd like to keep with the team policy of
maintaining the package under VCS, so I want to see if there's a way to
make this work. Is https://github.com/stp/OutputCheck the original
source? I think the source address should be documented somewhere in the
package as well-- either in d/copyright or as an additional line in
debian/watch, or both. I'll look into this when I get a chance.

> 
>> There's at least one other issue--in debian/control, the Vcs URLs should
>> be pointing to the packaging repository rather than upstream.
> 
> Ok, I didn't know this about the Vcs URL! Recently I added a Git repo
> for STP on Alioth. Should I put the repo's URL to d/control?
> 
>

Yes, please see
http://debian-science.alioth.debian.org/debian-science-policy.html#idp40308224


>>  I didn't check further because the package currently doesn't build.
> 
> Can you clarify this? It builds in pbuilder with defaults settings.
>

Yes, it's because I'm missing the supplemental tarball by having pulled
from the git repository.

> 
>> Most such problems can be found by running lintian, but we first need
>> the package to build in a minimal environment.
> 
> I haven't seen the Vcs problem in a report by Lintian. Usually I use the
> "-i -I" options. Can you be specific, i.e. which other options should I
> use that reveal issues you are talking about?
> 

I use:

$ cat ~/.lintianrc
color=always
display-experimental=no
display-info=yes
pedantic=no

But it's possible that lintian could miss something like this--
sometimes Debian contributors really do have their packaging VCS hosted
on github.

regards
Afif

1.
https://debian-handbook.info/browse/stable/sect.source-package-structure.html
(see the box "Different source package formats")
2. https://bugs.debian.org/cgi-bin/bugreport.cgi?bug=561071

-- 
Afif Elghraoui | عفيف الغراوي
http://afif.ghraoui.name