[debhelper-devel] Bug#830666: Bug#830666: debhelper: versioned Build-Depends on dpkg-dev is unnecessary

[Niels Thykier]

Control: tags -1 moreinfo

Sven Joachim:
> Source: debhelper
> Version: 9.20160709
> Severity: minor
> 
> Commit cd43c190224 added dpkg-dev (>= 1.18.0~) to Build-Depends.  It
> seems to me that this was an oversight and the runtime Depends should
> have been bumped instead (it was later in commit bbcb938ad38).
> 
> The dependency is needed so that automatic -dbgsym packages get added to
> the .changes file, but this is irrelevant for building debhelper itself.
> After removing the dpkg-dev Build-Depends, debhelper builds fine in a
> Jessie chroot.
> 
> Cheers,
>        Sven
> 
> [...]

Hi,

I am not quite sure what to do with this bug.

As I recall, I added the versioned Build-Depends to also ensure that no
one backported debhelper without dealing with the new dpkg-dev requirements.

So: What value is there in building debhelper in a Jessie chroot when
the resulting binary will be uninstallable in Jessie?
  If there is a use-case for this, I might reconsider the
build-dependency.  But from my current PoV, it is a useful safe-guard
with no practical downsides.

Thanks,
~Niels