[Pkg-emacsen-addons] Bug#870717: dh-elpa: dpkg-gencontrol: error: unknown option '-a'

[Adrian Bunk]

Package: dh-elpa
Version: 1.10
Severity: serious
Control: affects -1 src:notmuch

https://buildd.debian.org/status/fetch.php?pkg=notmuch&arch=amd64&ver=0.25-3&stamp=1501829342&raw=0

...
   dh_shlibdeps -a
dpkg-shlibdeps: warning: package could avoid a useless dependency if debian/ruby-notmuch/usr/lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/ruby/vendor_ruby/2.3.0/notmuch.so was not linked against libpthread.so.0 (it uses none of the library's symbols)
dpkg-shlibdeps: warning: package could avoid a useless dependency if debian/ruby-notmuch/usr/lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/ruby/vendor_ruby/2.3.0/notmuch.so was not linked against libcrypt.so.1 (it uses none of the library's symbols)
dpkg-shlibdeps: warning: package could avoid a useless dependency if debian/ruby-notmuch/usr/lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/ruby/vendor_ruby/2.3.0/notmuch.so was not linked against libdl.so.2 (it uses none of the library's symbols)
dpkg-shlibdeps: warning: package could avoid a useless dependency if debian/ruby-notmuch/usr/lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/ruby/vendor_ruby/2.3.0/notmuch.so was not linked against libgmp.so.10 (it uses none of the library's symbols)
dpkg-shlibdeps: warning: package could avoid a useless dependency if debian/ruby-notmuch/usr/lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/ruby/vendor_ruby/2.3.0/notmuch.so was not linked against libm.so.6 (it uses none of the library's symbols)
   dh_installdeb -a
   dh_gencontrol -- -Ddh-elpa-Version=1.10 -a
dpkg-gencontrol: error: unknown option '-a'

Use --help for program usage information.
dh_gencontrol: dpkg-gencontrol -ppython-notmuch -ldebian/changelog -Tdebian/python-notmuch.substvars -Pdebian/python-notmuch -UMulti-Arch -Ddh-elpa-Version=1.10 -a returned exit code 2
dpkg-gencontrol: error: unknown option '-a'

Use --help for program usage information.
dh_gencontrol: dpkg-gencontrol -pnotmuch-mutt -ldebian/changelog -Tdebian/notmuch-mutt.substvars -Pdebian/notmuch-mutt -UMulti-Arch -Ddh-elpa-Version=1.10 -a returned exit code 2
dpkg-gencontrol: error: unknown option '-a'

Use --help for program usage information.
dh_gencontrol: dpkg-gencontrol -pnotmuch-emacs -ldebian/changelog -Tdebian/notmuch-emacs.substvars -Pdebian/notmuch-emacs -UMulti-Arch -Ddh-elpa-Version=1.10 -a returned exit code 2
dpkg-gencontrol: error: unknown option '-a'

Use --help for program usage information.
dh_gencontrol: dpkg-gencontrol -pnotmuch -ldebian/changelog -Tdebian/notmuch.substvars -Pdebian/.debhelper/notmuch/dbgsym-root -Ddh-elpa-Version=1.10 -a -UPre-Depends -URecommends -USuggests -UEnhances -UProvides -UEssential -UConflicts -DPriority=extra -UHomepage -DAuto-Built-Package=debug-symbols -DPackage=notmuch-dbgsym "-DDepends=notmuch (= \${binary:Version})" "-DDescription=Debug symbols for notmuch" -DBuild-Ids=6268e08be97b1f406170ef6b742379cca6bb7886 -DSection=debug -UMulti-Arch -UReplaces -UBreaks returned exit code 2
dh_gencontrol: Aborting due to earlier error
debian/rules:6: recipe for target 'binary-arch' failed
make: *** [binary-arch] Error 25


I can reproduce the failure with dh-elpa 1.10,
and that downgrading dh-elpa to 1.8 fixes it.