[R-pkg-team] Bug#1042406: dh-r: throws "Use of uninitialized value $dep_line in substitution" warnings with some packages

[Nilesh Patra]

On Thu, 27 Jul 2023 22:07:23 +0200 Andreas Tille <andreas at an3as.eu> wrote:
> Am Thu, Jul 27, 2023 at 11:51:42PM +0530 schrieb Nilesh Patra:
> > 
> > On checking further, it seems to be stemming from the recommends line in
> > dh-r code[1]. This is because recommendsinput variable is being directly
> > set from desc->{Recommends}, and a check of whether this field is empty
> > is *after* the said initialization[3]. This can lead to `recommendsinput`
> > being set as `undef` and hence the unintialized errors from debhelper.
> 
> That's a pretty sensible explanation for the problem.
>  
> > The reason that we don't see such problems in for instance
> > r-bioc-bsgenome is because it has some values in the testdepends and
> > recommendsinput ends up having some value[4].
> > 
> > I have attached a patch to fix this, please check.
> 
> While reading the patch it definitely fixes the uninitialized value.
> However, it does not fulfill the intended behaviour to add the
> Test-Depends as Recommends.  I'm considering parsing DESCRIPTION
> directly to do so.
> 
> > ** Please test properly before you merge and upload, do NOT upload
> > blindly **
> 
> Thanks a lot for the warning.  I'll leave the bug open as a reminder
> and will sleep over it for a couple of nights to decide what might be
> the best solution for the problem.

I guess it has been a little bit longer than a couple of nights since
the bug report :)

We digressed discussing adding test depends as recommends - which was
not the purpose of this bug or even patch. It was rather to fix a
warning that dh-r spews sometimes and AFAICS, there is no regression.

have you thought about merging or rejecting the patch yet?

> > PS: Please mention my contribution in d/ch if you take this patch.
> 
> Sure. ;-)


Best,
Nilesh
-------------- next part --------------
A non-text attachment was scrubbed...
Name: signature.asc
Type: application/pgp-signature
Size: 228 bytes
Desc: not available
URL: <http://alioth-lists.debian.net/pipermail/r-pkg-team/attachments/20231110/182c32b6/attachment-0001.sig>