Hello.
I'm sorry to see this package removed because of this bug which I filed.
I trust that removing the package was the right thing to do, but I just
read the removal request you did to ftpmasters (#1058025) and would
like to make a minor comment which is only indirectly related:
This is caused by the fact that the VIBES
API uses the file $HOME/.vibes.json to communicate with the VIBES server.
Since the Debian autobuilders set HOME="/nonexistent/" [3], then the unit
tests for octave-vibes fail.
There is actually a debhelper feature for cases like this one.
This is from debhelper(7):
HOME, XDG_*
In compat 13 and later, these environment variables are reset before
invoking the upstream build system
via the dh_auto_* helpers. The variables HOME (all dh_auto_*
helpers) and XDG_RUNTIME_DIR (dh_auto_test
only) will be set to a writable directory. All remaining variables
and XDG_RUNTIME_DIR (except for
during dh_auto_test) will be cleared.
The HOME directory will be created as an empty directory but it will
be reused between calls to
dh_auto_*. Any content will persist until explicitly deleted or
dh_clean.
i.e. you may rely on a writable $HOME if it's for a "good cause" (i.e.
dh_auto_test).
So, the simple question: Should this not be also implemented in dh_octave_check
as well,
which is what octave-vibes was using?
Also, while we are at it, the Policy paragraph that you quoted:
The Debian autobuilders set HOME to /nonexistent so that packages which try to
write
to a home directory will fail to build.
would probably need to be reworded a little bit.
Thanks.
