RFC: Reworking build flags — «*_FOR_BUILD» flags handling
Hi!
[ See <https://lists.debian.org/debian-dpkg/2023/11/msg00031.html>. ]
This problem is related to the *_FOR_BUILD support (to specify flags for
the build instead of host system during cross-building), which got
recently partially improved (in dpkg 1.22.1), but there are still things
not covered.
These are at least two of the sub-problems that need to be tackled:
* Need to make features per-arch in output (such as --query), but that
might break users not expecting repeated entries. I guess the options
here might be to either:
a) try to look for users of the interfaces and make them cope (but
that would miss internal/private usage),
[ If starting from scratch I'd rather do this, but it has now
the potential for breakage. ]
b) version the interface via a CLI option,
[ This would be a general solution that would allow extensions in
the future, but complicates the interface. ]
c) add an explicit --for-build mode which would turn the output into
the *_FOR_BUILD features,
[ This is a targeted straightforward change, and a clear interface,
but it involves running the tool twice to get all the info. ]
d) or use different field keys for the paragraphs.
[ This is rather meh. ]
None of which seem ideal (although some seem less desirable) TBH.
* Need to honor build features, either from DEB_BUILD_OPTIONS or a
new envvar (and finding a non-confusing name!), but probably only for
a few of the features where it might really make sense (such as abi,
qa, hardening.pie) and which might affect the buildability or
runability of the artifacts, as anything else seems unnecessary.
I'm not certain about the envvar part, I think the last part is in
theory straightforward, the code just needs to duplicate the checks
per the various arches, and keep track of the various features per arch
internally, which might require breaking changes in the interfaces,
but I think the perl modules are not public interfaces anyway.
Thanks,
Guillem
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