[Pkg-rust-maintainers] Bug#1140558: Clarify openssl vs nettle usage in Debian

[Daniel Kahn Gillmor]

Version: 1.3.1-11

On Mon 2026-06-22 19:16:36 +0200, Chris Hofstädtler wrote:
> while researching sq on various operating systems, I've noticed that 
> various other distros use the OpenSSL backend, while Debian's sq 
> uses the nettle backend.

Debian has been shipping sequoia tooling since before there was an
openssl backend.  Nettle is a solid cryptographic library, one with
significantly better ergonomics than OpenSSL's complex API surface.

nettle also happens to be sequoia's default cryptographic backend.

> That seemed fine, however debcargo.toml also claims some openssl 
> dependency:
>
> https://sources.debian.org/src/rust-sequoia-sq/1.3.1-10/debian/debcargo.toml#L16
>
>   [packages.bin]
>   multi_arch = "foreign"
>   depends = [ "openssl" ]

This was fixed by Alexander Kjall in 1.3.1-11.  Thanks for catching it,
Chris!

> That left me wondering if Debian's sq was meant to use openssl 
> instead of nettle.

I think we should stick to nettle unless there is some compelling and
explicit reason to switch cryptographic backends.

         --dkg
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