[debhelper-devel] Bug#872745: Bug#872745: dh_install: now bails for missing files in disabled packages

[Helmut Grohne]

Control: clone -1 -2
Control: reassign -2 src:gnumach
Control: retitle -1 dh_install: document how package selection mechanisms interact
Control: retitle -2 gnumach stage1 fails to build with debhelper 10.7.2

On Sat, Aug 26, 2017 at 11:13:00AM +0000, Niels Thykier wrote:
> Turns out that this assumption never worked in general, but only for
> dh_install and only by accident.  Recently it would have worked with
> more tools that started to integrate with dh_missing (e.g.
> dh_installman) until it all "broke" in
> 60e1f08257c7361bf4730769f37de34141355148.

Ok. I'm fine with this being a bug in gnumach. I still think that the
documentation should clarfiy how various package selections mechanisms
(profiles, arch/indep, -p...) interact. So that's what this bug will be
about.

> I am all for making packaging easier to get right.  I am considering
> whether this is the right approach for it though.  At first glance, the
> dh_install part is probably better solved with the buildlabel feature
> (currently a prototype in experimental).

I still favour the approach. If I can write lots of dh_install -p lines
and have dh skip them based on profiles, that saves conditionals on
behalf of the maintainer. Similarly, debian/*.install files are skipped
based on profiles. I don't think the buildlabel approach works here,
because it's about different configurations of the build. With n
profiles you could have 2^n buildlabels.

Helmut