Bug#1143297: debian-policy: FTBFS: Fontconfig error: No writable cache directories

[Hilmar Preuße]

Hello,

in the build log I found another error message regarding a syntax error in a python file. Are you sure, we look at the relevant error message?

LaTeX Warning: Hyper reference `ch-relationships:s-virtual' on page 50 undefine
d on input line 4681.

[50] [51] [52]Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "/usr/bin/sphinx-intl", line 8, in <module>
    sys.exit(main())
             ~~~~^^
  File "/usr/lib/python3/dist-packages/click/core.py", line 1514, in __call__
    return self.main(*args, **kwargs)
           ~~~~~~~~~^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
  File "/usr/lib/python3/dist-packages/click/core.py", line 1435, in main
    rv = self.invoke(ctx)
  File "/usr/lib/python3/dist-packages/click/core.py", line 1902, in invoke
    return _process_result(sub_ctx.command.invoke(sub_ctx))
                           ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~^^^^^^^^^
  File "/usr/lib/python3/dist-packages/click/core.py", line 1298, in invoke
    return ctx.invoke(self.callback, **ctx.params)
           ~~~~~~~~~~^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
  File "/usr/lib/python3/dist-packages/click/core.py", line 853, in invoke
    return callback(*args, **kwargs)
  File "/usr/lib/python3/dist-packages/sphinx_intl/commands.py", line 315, in update
    basic.update(
    ~~~~~~~~~~~~^
        locale_dir,
        ^^^^^^^^^^^
    ...<4 lines>...
        jobs=jobs,
        ^^^^^^^^^^
    )
    ^
  File "/usr/lib/python3/dist-packages/sphinx_intl/basic.py", line 107, in update
    po_dir = os.path.join(locale_dir, lang, "LC_MESSAGES")
  File "<frozen posixpath>", line 77, in join
TypeError: expected str, bytes or os.PathLike object, not NoneType

Chapter 6.

LaTeX Warning: Hyper reference `ch-binary:s-maintscriptprompt' on page 53 undef
ined on input line 4937.

[53]make[1]: *** [Makefile:141: update-po] Error 1
make[1]: *** Waiting for unfinished jobs....

09.08.2026 11:56:44 Sean Whitton <spwhitton at spwhitton.name>:

> control: tag -1 + help confirmed
> 
> Santiago Vila [01/Aug 10:35pm GMT] wrote:
>> Running 'xelatex   -recorder  "policy.tex"'
>> ------------
>> This is XeTeX, Version 3.141592653-2.6-0.999998 (TeX Live 2026/Debian) (preloaded format=xelatex)
>> restricted \write18 enabled.
>> entering extended mode
>> (./policy.tex
>> LaTeX2e <2026-06-01>
>> L3 programming layer <2026-06-18>
>> (./sphinxmanual.cls
>> Document Class: sphinxmanual 2019/12/01 v2.3.0 Document class (Sphinx manual)
>> (/usr/share/texlive/texmf-dist/tex/latex/base/report.cls
>> Document Class: report 2025/01/22 v1.4n Standard LaTeX document class
>> (/usr/share/texlive/texmf-dist/tex/latex/base/size10.clo
>> Fontconfig error: No writable cache directories
>>     /var/cache/fontconfig
>>     /sbuild-nonexistent/.cache/fontconfig
>>     /sbuild-nonexistent/.fontconfig
>> )))
>> (/usr/share/texlive/texmf-dist/tex/latex/cmap/cmap.sty
> 
> I have no idea what the cause of this might be.  I do see #1064068 which
> is possibly related.  I'm CCing the tex and fontconfig maintainers who
> might have an idea.
> 
> -- 
> Sean Whitton