Arch Linux

jamespharvey20

Member

Registered: 2015-06-09

Posts: 129

Should I report namcap errors on packages? (@End of devtools scripts)

If I run across namcap errors and/or warnings on a pre-built binary *.pkg.tar.* file, or running devtools' testing-x86-64-build on a package repository (such as one in core)...

Should I file a bug report on the package, if the package otherwise seems to be working?

Or, should I assume the maintainer has seen and investigated the errors and/or warnings, and my bug report would be unwelcomed/unhelpful?

Specifically, as my example for this question, glibc 2.21-4:

$ namcap /var/cache/pacman/pkg/glibc-2.21-4-x86_64.pkg.tar.xz
glibc E: Cross-directory hardlink in package (usr/lib/getconf/POSIX_V7_LP64_OFF64, usr/bin/getconf)
glibc E: Cross-directory hardlink in package (usr/lib/getconf/XBS5_LP64_OFF64, usr/bin/getconf)
glibc E: Cross-directory hardlink in package (usr/lib/getconf/POSIX_V6_LP64_OFF64, usr/bin/getconf)
glibc W: File (var/db/) exists in a non-standard directory.
glibc W: File (var/db/Makefile) exists in a non-standard directory.
glibc W: Directory (usr/lib/locale) is empty
glibc W: Referenced library 'libKSC.so' is an uninstalled dependency
glibc W: Referenced library 'libJISX0213.so' is an uninstalled dependency
glibc W: Referenced library 'libISOIR165.so' is an uninstalled dependency
glibc W: Referenced library 'libCNS.so' is an uninstalled dependency
glibc W: Referenced library 'libGB.so' is an uninstalled dependency
glibc W: Referenced library 'libJIS.so' is an uninstalled dependency
glibc E: Dependency bash detected and not included (programs ['bash', 'sh'] needed in scripts ['usr/bin/catchsegv', 'usr/bin/xtrace', 'usr/bin/sotruss', 'usr/bin/tzselect', 'usr/bin/ldd', 'usr/bin/locale-gen'])
glibc E: Dependency perl detected and not included (programs ['perl'] needed in scripts ['usr/bin/mtrace'])

(I ran across this making a glibc-git which generated these namcap messages, then I compared against the official release, and found my glibc-git hadn't changed the messages at all.)

(Looking at these specific errors... bash and perl may be omitted since they're in base, but it looks like the preference is to include them anyway... The referenced libraries are all part of glibc, so I'm not sure why namcap is reporting those.)

x33a

Forum Fellow

Registered: 2009-08-15

Posts: 4,587

Re: Should I report namcap errors on packages? (@End of devtools scripts)

I think namcap is ok for catching some glaring mistakes, but it would not be feasible to act upon all that it reports. Suggesting namcap errors to maintainers would increase their workload. If the package is building and working fine, I think namcap output can be safely ignored.

Also, namcap wasn't updated in a long time but has now started seeing some activity. It might have some catching up to do, with respect to the changes in the meanwhile.

https://projects.archlinux.org/namcap.git/log/