> > I have come across a case where whitespace is added in
> > Packages{.gz,.bz2} and I am not sure how it should be parsed.
> [...]
> > Should this whitespace be parsed as a paragraph delimiter?
>
> For a Packages file, each paragraph is defined as a set of DEBIAN/control
> paragraphs; the Description field is not allowed to contain lines that are
> whitespace-only.
>
> https://wiki.debian.org/DebianRepository/Format#A.22Packages.22_Indices
>
> https://www.debian.org/doc/debian-policy/ch-controlfields.html#s-f-description
>
> So the strict answer is yes, it should be a paragraph delimiter but most
> implementations seem to be more forgiving in what they accept.
>
> Note that for debian/control files in source packages, whitespace-only lines
> are treated as paragraph separators so that whitespace errors in an editor
> don't accidentally make packages disappear from the archive.
>
>
> > Currently, the whitespace is being treated as a paragraph delimiter,
> > in python-debian, but not by apt-get, etc.
>
> Could you expand on this with an example, perhaps?
>
> python-debian actually uses python-apt for dealing with Sources and Packages
I was incorrect. As you have shown, python-apt works correctly.
> files (i.e. the exact same code as apt) and already does treat whitespace-only
> lines as being part of a paragraph rather than breaking them:
>
>
> $ ipython3
> Python 3.6.7 (default, Oct 21 2018, 08:08:16)
> Type "copyright", "credits" or "license" for more information.
>
> In [1]: from debian.deb822 import Packages
>
> In [2]: with open('Packages') as fh:
> ...: for p in Packages.iter_paragraphs(fh):
> ...: if p['Version'] == '1.25.0-1529904044':
> ...: print(p)
I've narrowed down where the issue occurs. It happens when passing the
contents rather than the file handle to iter_paragraphs:
~# ipython3
Python 3.5.3 (default, Jan 19 2017, 14:11:04)
Type "copyright", "credits" or "license" for more information.
IPython 5.1.0 -- An enhanced Interactive Python.
? -> Introduction and overview of IPython's features.
%quickref -> Quick reference.
help -> Python's own help system.
object? -> Details about 'object', use 'object??' for extra details.
In [1]: from debian.deb822 import Packages
In [2]: with open('Packages') as fh:
...: for p in Packages.iter_paragraphs(fh.read()):
...: if 'version' not in p:
...: print(p)
...:
Homepage: https://code.visualstudio.com/
Homepage: https://code.visualstudio.com/
Homepage: https://code.visualstudio.com/
Homepage: https://code.visualstudio.com/
Homepage: https://code.visualstudio.com/
Homepage: https://code.visualstudio.com/
Homepage: https://code.visualstudio.com/
Homepage: https://code.visualstudio.com/
Homepage: https://code.visualstudio.com/
Homepage: https://code.visualstudio.com/
Homepage: https://code.visualstudio.com/
Homepage: https://code.visualstudio.com/
In [3]:
Passing the contents does the correct thing in all other cases, so not
sure why it would be having an issue with this?
--
Marcus Furlong
