On Sat, 21 Aug 2021 at 11:50:00 +0100, Simon McVittie wrote: > If pkg-config is built on a merged-/usr system (as created by new > installations of Debian >= 10, debootstrap --merged-usr, or installing the > usrmerge package into an existing installation), the list of standard > library directories is not the same as if pkg-config is built on a > non-merged-/usr system (for example current official buildd chroots). > > This can be seen on the reproducible-builds.org infra: > https://tests.reproducible-builds.org/debian/rb-pkg/unstable/amd64/diffoscope-results/pkg-config.html > (search for "/usr/lib:" to see the difference I'm concerned about).
In general, the Debian technical committee resolution https://bugs.debian.org/cgi-bin/bugreport.cgi?bug=994388#110 recommends treating this class of bug as release-critical for Debian 12. However, I'm unsure whether this specific bug is RC or not: how important is it that the list of standard library directories is exhaustive? If it's important that it is a comprehensive list, then the severity of this bug should be raised to serious. Regardless of whether this is RC or not, it would be great to get this fixed in Debian 12: pkg-config is an important part of our toolchain, and having a fully reproducible build would increase confidence that it is working correctly for both mergd-/usr and unmerged-/usr systems. I proposed a patch in 2021 based on what is done in the pkgconf package (a reimplementation of pkg-config aiming to have compatible semantics). A similar patch was subsequently applied to pkgconf. Thanks, smcv
