[Build-common-hackers] Bug#805315: Bug#805315: cdbs: FTBFS with debhelper/9.20151116 - debhelper-5.sh has no compat

[Niels Thykier]

Jonas Smedegaard:
> Quoting Niels Thykier (2015-11-16 23:22:47)
>> Package: cdbs
>> Version: 0.4.130
>> Severity: serious
>> Usertags: deprecated-debhelper-compat-leq-3
>>
>> Hi,
>>
>> I happened to rebuild cdbs today with the newly uploaded
>> debhelper/9.20151116 and it FTBFS (test/debhelper-5.sh fails).
>>
>> AFAICT, the issue is that the test case removes "debian/compat",
>> making the (test) build default to compat 1, which is no longer
>> supported.
> 
> Sounds to me like a bug in debhelper, then: That you have not raised the 
> floor of debhelper to compatibility level 3, but removed the floor.
> 
> Or rephrased: Is it a documented "feature" that debhelper now _mandates_ 
> a debian/compat file - that leaving it out does not assume lowest 
> supported compatibility level but cause breakage?
> 
> 
>  - Jonas
> 

Hi,

It is not clear to me that debhelper's documentation ever documented
that the absence of d/compat meant the "lowest supported version" rather
than "compat 1".  If you can find such a reference, please do let me
know so I can correct it.
  I am honestly not very keen on "silently auto-migrating" packages to a
higher compat level, which seems to be the only alternative.

Mind you, debhelper does *not* mandate a debian/compat at this time
(although it is expected to become mandatory in the future).  What has
become mandatory is that the package declares an explicit compat of 3 or
higher  (4 being minimum by the end of the year).  This can still be
done by using the DH_COMPAT environment variable.


Thanks,
~Niels