[Bug 1751278] [NEW] dbgsym packages are generated iff DH_BUILD_DDEBS is set

[Michael Prokop]

Public bug reported:

A user trying to rebuild a Debian package of us ran into the problem
that he didn't get debug packages any longer. (The original bug report
and discussion around it is available at
https://github.com/sipwise/rtpengine/issues/459 )

In Ubuntu's debhelper changelog I found:

debhelper (9.20160115ubuntu2) xenial; urgency=medium

  * dh-strip: Adjust reversion of commit f1a803456 to account for the recent
    ENABLE_DDEBS → ENABLE_DBGSYM rename. This actually disables -dbgsym
    generation by dh_strip by default again. (LP: #1535949)

This matches what's documented under the "Ubuntu" section at https://wiki.debian.org/AutomaticDebugPackages
This doesn't seem to really match what's documented in Ubuntu's dh_strip manpage though:

       --automatic-dbgsym, --no-automatic-dbgsym
           Control whether dh_strip should be creating debug symbol packages when possible.

           The default is to create debug symbol packages.

In Ubuntu's dh_strip implementation I stumbled upon:

  $dh{ENABLE_DBGSYM} = 0 if not $ENV{'DH_BUILD_DDEBS'};

So only if DH_BUILD_DDEBS is set then dbgsym packages are generated, and
indeed this has been verified by the original bug reporter on Ubuntu
Server 16.04.3 LTS.

So the documentation seems to be wrong/incomplete. Probably it would
also make sense to switch the default around, to by default
automatically generate the dbgsym packages, so that users get a more
consistent behavior. You could then force it to off on Ubuntu's build
daemons instead, if that's relevant.

** Affects: debhelper (Ubuntu)
     Importance: Undecided
         Status: New

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https://bugs.launchpad.net/bugs/1751278

Title:
  dbgsym packages are generated iff DH_BUILD_DDEBS is set

Status in debhelper package in Ubuntu:
  New

Bug description:
  A user trying to rebuild a Debian package of us ran into the problem
  that he didn't get debug packages any longer. (The original bug report
  and discussion around it is available at
  https://github.com/sipwise/rtpengine/issues/459 )

  In Ubuntu's debhelper changelog I found:

  debhelper (9.20160115ubuntu2) xenial; urgency=medium

    * dh-strip: Adjust reversion of commit f1a803456 to account for the recent
      ENABLE_DDEBS → ENABLE_DBGSYM rename. This actually disables -dbgsym
      generation by dh_strip by default again. (LP: #1535949)

  This matches what's documented under the "Ubuntu" section at https://wiki.debian.org/AutomaticDebugPackages
  This doesn't seem to really match what's documented in Ubuntu's dh_strip manpage though:

         --automatic-dbgsym, --no-automatic-dbgsym
             Control whether dh_strip should be creating debug symbol packages when possible.

             The default is to create debug symbol packages.

  In Ubuntu's dh_strip implementation I stumbled upon:

    $dh{ENABLE_DBGSYM} = 0 if not $ENV{'DH_BUILD_DDEBS'};

  So only if DH_BUILD_DDEBS is set then dbgsym packages are generated,
  and indeed this has been verified by the original bug reporter on
  Ubuntu Server 16.04.3 LTS.

  So the documentation seems to be wrong/incomplete. Probably it would
  also make sense to switch the default around, to by default
  automatically generate the dbgsym packages, so that users get a more
  consistent behavior. You could then force it to off on Ubuntu's build
  daemons instead, if that's relevant.

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