Bug#1122795: nix: Please remove/replace usage of dh_movetousr

[Michael Biebl]

Control: tags -1 + patch

On Fri, 12 Dec 2025 14:52:17 +0100 bi...@debian.org wrote:

Source: nix
Version: 2.26.3+dfsg-1
Severity: normal
User: helm...@debian.org
Usertags: dh_movetousr_removal

Hi,

your package nix either Build-Depends on dh-sequence-movetousr or
uses dh_movetousr conditionally to move files from aliased locations
like /sbin, /bin or /lib to the canonical location in /usr.

Eventually, we would like to get rid of this debhelper addon.
Packages should use the canonical paths without any postprocessing.

This means, files are installed directly into /usr.

Please note, that such a change must not be backported to bookworm or
older. If you intend to provide such backports, these changes must be
reverted for those releases. If this means an undue burden on your
workflow our recommendation is to postpone this cleanup.

The motivation for this bug report is, to inform maintainers, that
installing files into the canonical location explicitly, is now the
preferred approach and dh_movetousr is now a deprecated tool.

The goal is, to have dh_movetousr removed after forky is released. We
can revise this plan, if needed. Please keep this timeline in mind
and let us know if this doesn't work for you.

For more information see [1].

If you have further questions, there is an IRC channel named
#debian-usrmerge on OFTC.

Regards,

Michael

[1] https://lists.debian.org/debian-devel/2025/11/msg00245.html

Looks like this was fixed by https://salsa.debian.org/debian/nix/-/commit/05c3049c4c9fc8df47b98df4cea52eca40b52a3d

Please find attached a patch which does that.

Regards,
Michael

diff -Nru nix-2.34.6+dfsg/debian/changelog nix-2.34.6+dfsg/debian/changelog
--- nix-2.34.6+dfsg/debian/changelog    2026-04-25 15:29:33.000000000 +0200
+++ nix-2.34.6+dfsg/debian/changelog    2026-07-05 16:58:56.000000000 +0200
@@ -1,3 +1,11 @@
+nix (2.34.6+dfsg-1.1) UNRELEASED; urgency=medium
+
+  * Non-maintainer upload.
+  * Drop Build-Depends on dh-sequence-movetousr, not needed anymore
+    (Closes: #1122795)
+
+ -- Michael Biebl <bi...@debian.org>  Sun, 05 Jul 2026 16:58:56 +0200
+
 nix (2.34.6+dfsg-1) unstable; urgency=medium
 
   * New upstream release (Closes: #1133004)
diff -Nru nix-2.34.6+dfsg/debian/control nix-2.34.6+dfsg/debian/control
--- nix-2.34.6+dfsg/debian/control      2026-04-25 15:29:33.000000000 +0200
+++ nix-2.34.6+dfsg/debian/control      2026-07-05 16:58:56.000000000 +0200
@@ -7,7 +7,6 @@
                cmake,
                curl,
                debhelper-compat (= 13),
-               dh-sequence-movetousr,
                flex,
                jq,
                libacl1-dev,

The dh-sequence-movetousr Build-Depends is not necessary anymore and should be dropped now.

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