Bug#983099: perl FTCBFS: cross configs outdated

[Dominic Hargreaves]

On Fri, Feb 19, 2021 at 11:00:20AM +0100, Helmut Grohne wrote:
> Source: perl
> Version: 5.32.1-2
> Severity: important
> X-Debbugs-Cc: debian-release at lists.debian.org
> User: debian-cross at lists.debian.org
> Usertags: ftcbfs
> 
> perl currently fails to cross build from source, due to a minor version
> bump. Whenever the version is updated, the cross compilation configs
> need to be updated and this didn't happen for perl.
> 
> Such temporary ftcbfs are usual for perl. What makes this worthy of
> reporting is that this version will end up in bullseye. There are a
> number of embedded distributions now that are based on Debian and due to
> perl's central role to Debian it should be cross buildable in stable.
> 
> The risk of breaking anything by fixing this bug is quite low as these
> cross configs are used for nothing but cross building perl and updating
> them is a routine task to Niko. I've Cced d-release in case they want to
> object now before Niko files an unblock request.

Thanks for the heads up. I had not realised the significance of these
cross files in the context of the stable release.

Niko, I see there is a debian/cross/extract-config-sh - could you
possibly add a note to debian/README.source explaining the
circumstances under which it needs to be run? I see there were multiple
updates for 5.32.0 so it looks like it's not only with new upstream
versions it needs to be run.

Probably it needs to be listed at 
<https://wiki.debian.org/PerlMaintenance#New_upstream_release_checklist>
too.

Cheers
Dominic