From debian at croque.top  Sun Nov  1 14:28:57 2026
From: debian at croque.top (Mathis Faivre)
Date: Sun, 01 Nov 2026 15:28:57 +0100
Subject: Bug#1141352: python3-debian: merge_fields can raise ValueError with
 folded Binary fields
In-Reply-To: <akd6WabKfKsvl3va@camorr.rosewood.vpn.ucam.org>
References: <akd6WabKfKsvl3va@camorr.rosewood.vpn.ucam.org>
 <akd6WabKfKsvl3va@camorr.rosewood.vpn.ucam.org>
Message-ID: <179354333782.99950.3612687347178486024@croque.top>

Hi,

I would like to take this one. I plan to split it in two:

1. A small fix in Deb822._merge_fields so a folded Binary merges with a single-line one, using Colin's test case. No API change.
2. Separately, the larger rework Colin describes: an explicit simple/folded/multiline type for merge_fields, and folding Binary when dumping, as dpkg-genchanges does.

Do you want (2) in python-debian, and if so, what API do you prefer: a field-type argument to merge_fields, or a per-class table of field types? I would start with (1) now and only do (2) if you agree on the shape.

Thanks,
Mathis