Debian Bug report logs - #993250
mpb-doc: examples include non-reproducible Makefile containing facts only true for build system

Toggle useless messages

Message #5 received at submit@bugs.debian.org (full text, mbox, reply):

From: Simon McVittie <smcv@debian.org>

To: Debian Bug Tracking System <submit@bugs.debian.org>

Subject: mpb-doc: examples include non-reproducible Makefile containing facts only true for build system

Date: Sun, 29 Aug 2021 11:59:42 +0100

[Message part 1 (text/plain, inline)]

Package: mpb-doc
Version: 1.11.1-3
Severity: normal
Tags: patch
User: reproducible-builds@lists.alioth.debian.org
Usertags: buildpaths usrmerge
X-Debbugs-Cc: reproducible-bugs@lists.alioth.debian.org

mpb-doc contains example files accompanied by a Makefile. This Makefile
contains facts that were true on the system where the package was built
but not necessarily true on the system where it will be used, notably the
absolute path to the build directory and the absolute paths to grep
and mkdir.

https://bugs.debian.org/cgi-bin/bugreport.cgi?bug=961747 is an example
of a similar bug report in a different package, illustrating the two
possible solutions:

- either:
  1. force the canonical paths to grep, mkdir etc. to be discovered
  2. canonicalize the Makefile to omit the absolute build paths
- or:
  - don't ship this Makefile at all, because it is probably not directly
    useful to an end user: they would have to regenerate it from
    Makefile.in to build the examples successfully, because Autotools
    build systems are not typically intended to be portable between
    directory locations or between machines

An implementation of the second approach is attached.

Thanks,
    smcv

[0001-d-rules-Remove-generated-Makefile-from-examples.patch (text/x-diff, attachment)]

Message #10 received at 993250-close@bugs.debian.org (full text, mbox, reply):

From: Debian FTP Masters <ftpmaster@ftp-master.debian.org>

To: 993250-close@bugs.debian.org

Subject: Bug#993250: fixed in mpb 1.11.1-4

Date: Wed, 15 Sep 2021 21:51:34 +0000

Source: mpb
Source-Version: 1.11.1-4
Done: Thorsten Alteholz <debian@alteholz.de>

We believe that the bug you reported is fixed in the latest version of
mpb, which is due to be installed in the Debian FTP archive.

A summary of the changes between this version and the previous one is
attached.

Thank you for reporting the bug, which will now be closed.  If you
have further comments please address them to 993250@bugs.debian.org,
and the maintainer will reopen the bug report if appropriate.

Debian distribution maintenance software
pp.
Thorsten Alteholz <debian@alteholz.de> (supplier of updated mpb package)

(This message was generated automatically at their request; if you
believe that there is a problem with it please contact the archive
administrators by mailing ftpmaster@ftp-master.debian.org)


-----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE-----
Hash: SHA512

Format: 1.8
Date: Wed, 15 Sep 2021 22:17:01 +0200
Source: mpb
Architecture: source
Version: 1.11.1-4
Distribution: unstable
Urgency: medium
Maintainer: Thorsten Alteholz <debian@alteholz.de>
Changed-By: Thorsten Alteholz <debian@alteholz.de>
Closes: 993250
Changes:
 mpb (1.11.1-4) unstable; urgency=medium
 .
   * remove example makefile to allow reproducible build of package
     thanks to Simon McVittie for the patch (CLoses: #993250)
     Autotools build systems are generally not intended to be portable
     between directories or between systems, and this Makefile contains
     absolute paths to the package's build directory and detected absolute
     paths to tools such as grep, making it non-reproducible.
   * debian/control: bump Standards Version to 4.6.0 (no changes)
   * debian/control: add Rules-Requires-Root:
Checksums-Sha1:
 a10ed5882a82cd8df6dbd18b0015e47cc7c5be6b 2280 mpb_1.11.1-4.dsc
 ae488c5f461f804cd76559f56b2fa79db4166826 145184 mpb_1.11.1-4.debian.tar.xz
 b9cc24a21309a089cc11c26b0ea47f40257e8ed9 10701 mpb_1.11.1-4_amd64.buildinfo
Checksums-Sha256:
 ab4eb6cf5c7e7dde5dbb326cd5dad2ec8cb95b3bc0e0a811b01f8850edc399aa 2280 mpb_1.11.1-4.dsc
 93bab1f86b17d2c36f4beb87da94899934ee343f2765037afae910979795c4ef 145184 mpb_1.11.1-4.debian.tar.xz
 50f007b016764a2e9729b4259962b8a734cee377c7d069bbf547bc1a93810205 10701 mpb_1.11.1-4_amd64.buildinfo
Files:
 1cc9d1741a6979c31bb32476a18d38ec 2280 science optional mpb_1.11.1-4.dsc
 e7591dd97c9246e5922900757aba8e38 145184 science optional mpb_1.11.1-4.debian.tar.xz
 236d7619a17e013ba7284911ee955337 10701 science optional mpb_1.11.1-4_amd64.buildinfo

-----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE-----
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=eAhQ
-----END PGP SIGNATURE-----

Send a report that this bug log contains spam.