Package: dpkg-dev Version: 1.19.0.5 Severity: wishlist Hi all,
today when a build-dependency has a RC bug, it affects current package even if this dependency is used only for tests. I propose to add a "Test-Depends" field in debian/control. Packages mentionned in it will stay required but a RC bug will not affect packages that use it only for tests. In the same idea, it could be interesting to add also a "Test-Recommends" field: packages mentionned in it will be required if available in this distribution but build process will even be launched if not. Of course, corresponding tests have to detect that package is missing and skip test (skip mechanism used in Perl Test::More for example). So a package removed for any reason will not affect packages that optionaly use it. Example: a suggested package that is also used in a test. Regards, Xavier -- System Information: Debian Release: buster/sid APT prefers testing APT policy: (600, 'testing'), (50, 'unstable') Architecture: amd64 (x86_64) Foreign Architectures: i386 Kernel: Linux 4.14.0-3-amd64 (SMP w/2 CPU cores) Locale: LANG=fr_FR.UTF-8, LC_CTYPE=fr_FR.UTF-8 (charmap=UTF-8), LANGUAGE= (charmap=UTF-8) Shell: /bin/sh linked to /bin/dash Init: systemd (via /run/systemd/system) LSM: AppArmor: enabled Versions of packages dpkg-dev depends on: ii binutils 2.30-21 ii bzip2 1.0.6-8.1 ii libdpkg-perl 1.19.0.5 ii make 4.1-9.1 ii patch 2.7.6-2 ii perl 5.26.2-5 ii tar 1.30+dfsg-2 ii xz-utils 5.2.2-1.3 Versions of packages dpkg-dev recommends: ii build-essential 12.5 ii fakeroot 1.22-2 ii gcc [c-compiler] 4:7.3.0-3 ii gcc-7 [c-compiler] 7.3.0-21 ii gnupg 2.2.5-1 ii gnupg2 2.2.5-1 ii gpgv 2.2.5-1 ii libalgorithm-merge-perl 0.08-3 Versions of packages dpkg-dev suggests: ii debian-keyring 2018.06.04 -- no debconf information