Bug#1059983: gnome-software FTBFS with nocheck profile: ERROR: Program 'appstreamcli' not found or not executable

[Helmut Grohne]

Source: gnome-software
Version: 45.2-1
Severity: serious
Tags: ftbfs trixie sid

gnome-software fails to build from source in unstable when built with
the nocheck build profile. A build ends as follows:

| ../data/metainfo/meson.build:11:16: ERROR: Program 'appstreamcli' not found or not executable
| dh_auto_configure: error: cd obj-x86_64-linux-gnu && DEB_PYTHON_INSTALL_LAYOUT=deb LC_ALL=C.UTF-8 meson setup .. --wrap-mode=nodownload --buildtype=plain --prefix=/usr --sysconfdir=/etc --localstatedir=/var --libdir=lib/x86_64-linux-gnu -Dpython.bytecompile=-1 -Dgsettings_desktop_schemas=enabled -Dpackagekit=true -Dpackagekit_autoremove=true -Drpm_ostree=false -Dapt=true -Dfwupd=false -Dflatpak=false -Dgudev=false -Dmalcontent=false -Dflatpak=true -Dmalcontent=true -Dgudev=true -Dfwupd=true -Dsnap=true returned exit code 1
| make[1]: *** [debian/rules:58: override_dh_auto_configure] Error 25
| make[1]: Leaving directory '/<<PKGBUILDDIR>>'
| make: *** [debian/rules:55: binary] Error 2
| dpkg-buildpackage: error: debian/rules binary subprocess returned exit status 2

Presumably, the appstream dependency is incorrectly tagged <!nocheck>.
I note that since trixie, failing to build from source with the nocheck
profile is considered a release critical bug by the release team,
because incorrectly tagged dependencies may misguide the autoremover.

Helmut