* Santiago Vila <sanv...@debian.org> [2023-12-12 20:25]:
I'm sorry to see this package removed because of this bug which I filed.
Actually, the main reason for requesting the removal is the fact that the
package is unusable without the VIBES viewer. Note that if the latter is
packaged for Debian, then the octave-vibes package can be resurrected.
I trust that removing the package was the right thing to do, but I just
read the removal request you did to ftpmasters (#1058025) and would
like to make a minor comment which is only indirectly related:
This is caused by the fact that the VIBES API uses the file
$HOME/.vibes.json to communicate with the VIBES server. Since the
Debian autobuilders set HOME="/nonexistent/" [3], then the unit
tests for octave-vibes fail.
There is actually a debhelper feature for cases like this one.
This is from debhelper(7):
HOME, XDG_*
In compat 13 and later, these environment variables are reset
before invoking the upstream build system via the dh_auto_*
helpers. The variables HOME (all dh_auto_* helpers) and
XDG_RUNTIME_DIR (dh_auto_test only) will be set to a writable
directory. All remaining variables and XDG_RUNTIME_DIR
(except for during dh_auto_test) will be cleared.
The HOME directory will be created as an empty directory but
it will be reused between calls to dh_auto_*. Any content
will persist until explicitly deleted or dh_clean.
i.e. you may rely on a writable $HOME if it's for a "good cause" (i.e.
dh_auto_test).
So, the simple question: Should this not be also implemented in
dh_octave_check as well, which is what octave-vibes was using?
Thanks for bringing this to my knowledge. However, I do not quite
understand the text above. Does it mean that, when the package
Build-Depends on debhelper-compat = 13, then $HOME will be set
automatically to a writable directory? Well, octave-vibes that
compatibility level of debhelper, but the autobuilders set
HOME=/nonexistent/.
Also, while we are at it, the Policy paragraph that you quoted:
The Debian autobuilders set HOME to /nonexistent so that packages
which try to write to a home directory will fail to build.
would probably need to be reworded a little bit.
I agree. I think that a bug report should be filed against
debian-policy on this issue.
Best,
Rafael Laboissière
