[buildd-tools-devel] Some Debian package upgrades are corrupting rsync "quick check" backups

[Chris Lamb]

Hi all,

Just following up on this thread. As it's been a while, here's the
thread index:

 https://lists.debian.org/debian-security/2017/01/threads.html#00014

... but AIUI, the issue is as follows. Naturally, let me know if this
a poor or inaccurate summary:

 * binNMUs do not bump debian/changelog.

 * This causes mtimes to to not be bumped in the (actually modified!)
   package.

 * Backup programs (eg. rsync) will therefore not believe a binary has
   changed and thus will be skipped over.

 * A binary restored from such a backup may not execute correctly.

 * Asking users to change anything at all is always problematic, but
   to ask them to switch to using (for example) --checksum with its
   non-trivial performance penalty is a very difficult ask indeed.
   Some backup programs may not even support such a mode anyway…

My questions are as follows:

 a) Has anything changed in the meantime?

 b) Will this affect stretch? If so, what do we need to do now?


Regards,

-- 
      ,''`.
     : :'  :     Chris Lamb
     `. `'`      lamby at debian.org / chris-lamb.co.uk
       `-