Bug#1132823: dh_auto_clean: please prefer maintainer-clean makefile target

[Niels Thykier]

Nicolas Boulenguez:

Package: debhelper
Version: 13.24.2
Severity: wishlist
Tags: patch

Hello.
According to
https://www.gnu.org/software/make/manual/html_node/Standard-Targets.html
the maintainer-clean target removes more files than distclean,
so it should be preferred when available.

--- a/lib/Debian/Debhelper/Buildsystem/makefile.pm
+++ b/lib/Debian/Debhelper/Buildsystem/makefile.pm
@@ -199,7 +199,7 @@
  sub clean {
        my $this=shift;
        if (!$this->rmdir_builddir()) {
-               $this->make_first_existing_target(['distclean', 'realclean', 
'clean'], @_);
+               $this->make_first_existing_target(['maintainer-clean', 
'distclean', 'realclean', 'clean'], @_);
        }
  }

Hi Nicolas,

Thanks for the patch.

I am not opposed to the idea in general and it would combine with https://bugs.debian.org/924052. However, I have shied away from these changes because it affects every autotools package all at once.

Best regards,
Niels

So either it becomes guarded behind a compat bump or we need a rebuild-test to see what the damage is. I do not have the capacity to deal with a rebuild-test and the follow-up, so if this part is left for me, then I will consider this for a new compat bump down the line.

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