[Pkg-ia32-libs-maintainers] Building on i386 (Was: Re: ia32-alsa-lib_1.0.16-2+2_ia64.changes REJECTED)

[Ove Kaaven]

Goswin von Brederlow skrev:
> They can not currently be created at build time. The 32bit libraries
> have to be build on i386 but the ia32-* packages are for amd64 (with
> the exceptions uploaded so far) and ia64. Building them breaks at
> several points (correct me when I'm wrong):
> 
> - dpkg-gencontrol: amd64/ia64 packages are not added to debian/files
> - dpkg-genchanges: if added to debian/files the Architecture field
>                    in changes still comes out i386 [source] causing a
>                    rejection because the changes file contains
>                    packages for architectures not listed.
> - buildd: buildd would most likely be confused by a
>           libfoo_1.2-3_i386_amd64_ia64.changes file
> - dak: not sure what DAK will do with multiple uploads for an arch:
>        libfoo_1.2-3_i386_amd64_ia64.changes from i386
>        libfoo_1.2-3_amd64.changes from amd64
>        libfoo_1.2-3_ia64.changes from ia64
> - wanna-build: uploading libfoo_1.2-3_i386_amd64_ia64.changes confuses
>                wanna-build into thinking amd64 and ia64 have the
>                package installed so they would no longer build the
>                native libs

I don't have that much experience with this, but to my understanding, 
nothing here is insurmountable.

Both dpkg-gencontrol and dpkg-genchanges will use the environment 
variable DEB_HOST_ARCH. Just run them once for each architecture with 
that variable set. Use something like mergechanges (from devscripts) 
afterwards to manufacture a single .changes file. I believe its name 
will become libfoo_1.2-3_multi.changes. It should perhaps be renamed 
back to *_i386.changes, just in case (doubtful it'd make a technical 
difference, though, stuff is probably looking at the Architecture field 
in the .changes, not the filename). Anyway, DAK should be able to handle 
*_multi.changes just fine (otherwise mergechanges wouldn't exist).

With the only remaining real problem being what the buildds think, it's 
just a matter of some tweaking or filing bugs on whatever needs fixing 
to support this, and the path is clear...