I just couldn’t resist… I joined the game, but did it the other way around.

I could only file 51 new FTBFS (Fail To Build From Source) bugs this time. Looks like Squeeze is getting closer!

I’ve also been doing rebuilds of Ubuntu lucid. There are currently 561 packages that fail to build from source in lucid/amd64, versus 430 in sid/amd64 (I will start rebuilding squeeze instead of sid after the freeze). Surprisingly, only 131 packages fail in both. I would have expected that number to be much higher.

The 51 new FTBFS bugs:
#573648: gnome-chemistry-utils: FTBFS: Nonexistent build-dependency: libgoffice-0-8-dev
#573649: …/api/package-list is no longer compressed
#573650: …/api/package-list is no longer compressed
#573651: virt-top: FTBFS: configure: error: Cannot find required OCaml package ‘extlib’
#573652: heartbeat: FTBFS: Nonexistent build-dependency: libcluster-glue-dev
#573653: abiword: FTBFS: Nonexistent build-dependency: libgoffice-0-8-dev
#573654: helium: FTBFS: Makefile: hGetLine: invalid argument (Invalid or incomplete multibyte or wide character)
#573655: mlton-cross: FTBFS: /bin/sh: wget: not found
#573656: pytest-xdist: FTBFS: ImportError: No module named setuptools
#573657: libfile-fu-perl: FTBFS: tests failed
#573658: libphysfs: FTBFS: docs/man/man3/PHYSFS_addToSearchPath.3: No such file or directory at /usr/bin/dh_installman line 127.
#573659: ecl: FTBFS: rm: cannot remove `/build/user-ecl_10.2.1-1-amd64-S2bazb/ecl-10.2.1/debian/ecl/usr/share/info/dir’: No such file or directory
#573660: …/api/package-list is no longer compressed
#573661: libdbix-class-schema-loader-perl: FTBFS: tests failed
#573662: …/api/package-list is no longer compressed
#573663: libthai: FTBFS: /usr/bin/install: cannot stat `./../doc/man/man3/th_render_text_tis.3′: No such file or directory
#573664: …/api/package-list is no longer compressed
#573665: hunspell-dict-ko: FTBFS: build hangs
#573666: plexus-active-collections: FTBFS: missing junit:junit:jar:debian
#573667: nuapplet: FTBFS: Can’t find gnutls library developpement files!
#573668: binutils-z80: FTBFS: /bin/sh: cannot open /build/user-binutils-z80_2.20-3-amd64-MwJBIl/binutils-z80-2.20/binutils-2.20.tar.bz2: No such file
#573669: keynav: FTBFS: keynav.c:799: error: too few arguments to function ‘xdo_mousemove’
#573670: moblin-panel-applications: FTBFS: moblin-netbook-launcher.c:1640: undefined reference to `mx_scroll_view_get_vscroll_bar’
#573671: tetradraw: FTBFS: /bin/bash: line 1: automake-1.7: command not found
#573672: beid: FTBFS: rm: cannot remove `_src/eidmw/bin/eidmw_*.qm’: No such file or directory
#573673: swfdec-gnome: FTBFS: Nonexistent build-dependency: libswfdec-0.8-dev
#573674: swfdec-mozilla: FTBFS: Nonexistent build-dependency: libswfdec-0.8-dev
#573675: jasmin-sable: FTBFS: Error: JAVA_HOME is not defined correctly.
#573676: corosync: FTBFS: `Depends’ field, reference to `libcorosync4′: error in version: version string is empty
#573677: banshee-extension-mirage: FTBFS: ./PlaylistGeneratorSource.cs(469,39): error CS0539: `Banshee.PlaybackController.IBasicPlaybackController.Next’ in explicit interface declaration is not a member of interface
#573678: gnucash: FTBFS: Nonexistent build-dependency: libgoffice-0-8-dev
#573679: libwx-perl: FTBFS: xvfb-run: error: Xvfb failed to start
#573680: …/api/package-list is no longer compressed
#573681: fso-usaged: FTBFS: fsobasics-2.0.vapi:110.2-110.84: error: `FsoFramework’ already contains a definition for `AsyncWorkerQueue’
#573682: libiscwt-java: FTBFS: Nonexistent build-dependency: libswt-gtk-3.4-java
#573683: nordugrid-arc-nox: FTBFS: ld: cannot find -larccrypto
#573684: cssc: FTBFS: rm: cannot remove `/build/user-cssc_1.2.0-1-amd64-XCK7aQ/cssc-1.2.0/debian/cssc/usr/share/info/dir*’: No such file or directory
#573685: django-threaded-multihost: FTBFS: distutils.errors.DistutilsError: Could not find suitable distribution for Requirement.parse(‘setuptools-hg’)
#573686: …/api/package-list is no longer compressed
#573687: davical: FTBFS: /bin/sh: phpdoc: not found
#573688: gauche-gtk: FTBFS: gauche-gtk.c:450: error: too few arguments to function ‘Scm_Apply’
#573689: quilt: FTBFS: tests failed
#573690: pyabiword: FTBFS: Nonexistent build-dependency: libgoffice-0-8-dev
#573691: flumotion: FTBFS: configure: error: You need at least version 2.0.1 of Twisted
#573692: libnet-dns-zone-parser-perl: FTBFS: tests failed
#573693: nip2: FTBFS: Nonexistent build-dependency: libgoffice-0-8-dev
#573694: hedgewars: FTBFS: Error: Illegal parameter: -Nu
#573695: epsilon: FTBFS: FAILED (skips=5, expectedFailures=1, errors=7, successes=229)
#573696: python-glpk: FTBFS: Unsatisfiable build-dependency: libglpk-dev(inst 4.43-1 ! <= wanted 4.38.999)
#573697: libnanoxml2-java: FTBFS: cp: cannot stat `/usr/share/doc/default-jdk-doc/api/package-list.gz’: No such file or directory
#573698: doxia-maven-plugin: FTBFS: Reason: Cannot find parent: org.apache.maven.doxia:doxia

For the first time since I got involved in Ruby maintenance in Debian & Ubuntu, we are seriously at risk of not being able to release working Ruby interpreters in both Ubuntu Lucid and Debian Squeeze, because of two pretty serious issues.

Ruby 1.8(.7.249) randomly hangs with eglibc 2.11

That issue was found by Google folks, because Puppet was hanging. After a lot of (quite heated) discussion, it was found that the problem is caused by something in eglibc 2.11: the problem can’t be reproduced in a Debian unstable chroot (with eglibc 2.10), but is reproducible if you just upgrade glibc to 2.11 (which is in Debian experimental).

It is not clear at all whether it is a glibc bug, or a ruby bug: Ruby has shown in the past that it was making some assumptions on the behaviour of pthread. It is possible that a valid change in glibc conflicts with an assumption made by Ruby.

Still, I wonder why Ubuntu chose to release with eglibc 2.11, while Debian still only has 2.10 in unstable, and Ubuntu doesn’t really have a lot of people with deep glibc knowledge. (Update: I assumed we would release squeeze with 2.10, but the eglibc maintainers plan to release 2.11 in squeeze.)

That issue is tracked in Launchpad as bug 520715 (which was reassigned to eglibc), and in Ruby’s redmine as bug 2739. Debian Squeeze isn’t affected by that issue, but we are likely to get bitten as well after Squeeze if a solution isn’t found by then.

As Ruby maintainers in Debian/Ubuntu, we can’t do much about this issue, because it requires either a lot of glibc knowledge, or a lot of understanding of the Ruby threading code.

Ruby 1.9(.1.37{6,8})’s test suite hangs on Sparc

The development branch of Ruby (declared stable by the interpreter developers, but not considered as such by the third-party libraries developers) also has interesting issues. Its test suite hangs on sparc, but only (apparently) on specific CPUs/kernel versions. Here again, it is not clear whether it is a Ruby issue, or a kernel issue, for the same reasons as above. It is also possible that it is fixed in Linux 2.6.32, but the Debian build daemons run the lenny kernel, so we can’t check that. This is tracked as Debian bug 565765, and is not tracked in Ruby’s redmine, because Sparc is not supported by the upstream Ruby developers.

This issue really requires Sparc knowledge (and access), so as Ruby maintainers, again, we can’t do much, besides coordinating and poking the various people that can help.

The Debian Packages Tracking System has a great feature: you can subscribe to packages that matter to you, and be informed of all uploads, bugs, testing migrations, etc.

However, when (co-)maintaining a lot of packages, it is easy to forget to subscribe. And then you might miss important information about your packages (uploaders don’t receive bugmail by default, for example).

Since PTS subscriptions are now imported into Ultimate Debian Database, it is easy to find out if you missed some subscriptions. It’s just a matter of going to http://udd.debian.org/cgi-bin/pts-check.cgi and entering your email!

And for those concerned with privacy, it should be noted that the unauthenticated access to UDD only gives you the hash of the subscribers’ emails. You need to be a DD, and use the guestdd account to see the email addresses (which DDs can already see on master.d.o).