Bug#604093: Bug #604093: python-debian: iter_paragraphs: be more robust against RFC822 comments in unicoded files -- swallows the trailer

[Stuart Prescott]

Hi Yaroslav,

> > The only place where comments are defined in deb822 files that I can find
> > is in policy §5.1 and they are only defined for debian/control files and
> > comments are started by a # at the start of the line.
> 
> if I get it right, I either saw (or found somewhere) a confirmation that
> deb822 is based on (not just inspired by) rfc822, and that is why I was
> expecting comments as defined in rfc822 be respected:
> 
> https://www.ietf.org/rfc/rfc0822.txt
> 2.8.  ; COMMENTS
> 
>           A semi-colon, set off some distance to  the  right  of  rule
>      text,  starts  a comment that continues to the end of line.  This
>      is a simple way of including useful notes in  parallel  with  the
>      specifications.
> 
> 
> but if deb822 is not derived from rfc822, I guess my report was a moot ;)

I can see where you're coming from here. Our definition of the format is Policy 
§5.1, which doesn't actually mention RFC822, defines some things that are not 
in that RFC and doesn't include other things that are. I suspect that our 
common description of this format as being "pseudo-rfc822" is a (clumsy) 
shorthand that at times leads us astray.

So, I think your bug report exposed some useful inconsistencies in deb822's 
handling of filehandles vs other generators and I think we're getting close to 
solving them. Adding handling to the parser for ";"-comments, however, I think 
we should skip.

cheers
Stuart

(thanks to juliank and others in #d-devel for confirming my suspicions)

-- 
Stuart Prescott    http://www.nanonanonano.net/   stuart at nanonanonano.net
Debian Developer   http://www.debian.org/         stuart at debian.org
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