If neither -a or -i are specified, debhelper commands used to default to acting on all packages in the control file, which was a guaranteed failure if the control file listed packages that did not build for the target architecture. After recent optimisations, this default behavior can efficiently be changed to the more sane default of acting on only packages that can be built for the current architecture. This change is mostly useful when using minimal rules files with dh. Closes: #572077

3 files changed, 17 insertions, 6 deletions

diff --git a/Debian/Debhelper/Dh_Lib.pm b/Debian/Debhelper/Dh_Lib.pm
index f37ff518..b96ea344 100644
--- a/Debian/Debhelper/Dh_Lib.pm
+++ b/Debian/Debhelper/Dh_Lib.pm
@@ -76,7 +76,7 @@ sub init {
 	# Check if packages to build have been specified, if not, fall back to
 	# the default, doing them all.
 	if (! defined $dh{DOPACKAGES} || ! @{$dh{DOPACKAGES}}) {
-		push @{$dh{DOPACKAGES}},@allpackages;
+		push @{$dh{DOPACKAGES}}, getpackages('both');
 	}
 
 	# Check to see if -P was specified. If so, we can only act on a single
@@ -667,8 +667,10 @@ sub sourcepackage {
 }
 
 # Returns a list of packages in the control file.
-# Pass "arch" or "indep" to specify arch-dependant or
-# independant. If nothing is specified, returns all packages.
+# Pass "arch" or "indep" to specify arch-dependant (that will be built
+# for the system's arch) or independant. If nothing is specified,
+# returns all packages. Also, "both" returns the union of "arch" and "indep"
+# packages.
 # As a side effect, populates %package_arches and %package_types with the
 # types of all packages (not only those returned).
 my (%package_types, %package_arches);
@@ -715,8 +717,8 @@ sub getpackages {
 			}
 
 			if ($package &&
-			    (($type eq 'indep' && $arch eq 'all') ||
-			     ($type eq 'arch' && ($arch eq 'any' ||
+			    ((($type eq 'indep' || $type eq 'both') && $arch eq 'all') ||
+			     (($type eq 'arch'  || $type eq 'both') && ($arch eq 'any' ||
 					     ($arch ne 'all' &&
 			                      samearch(buildarch(), $arch)))) ||
 			     ! $type)) {
diff --git a/debian/changelog b/debian/changelog
index eca289ae..c44632ff 100644
--- a/debian/changelog
+++ b/debian/changelog
@@ -7,6 +7,13 @@ debhelper (7.4.16) UNRELEASED; urgency=low
     not all packages are acted on (due to architecture limits or flags).
     Closes: #570373
   * Typo. Closes: #571968
+  * If neither -a or -i are specified, debhelper commands used to default
+    to acting on all packages in the control file, which was a guaranteed
+    failure if the control file listed packages that did not build for the
+    target architecture. After recent optimisations, this default behavior
+    can efficiently be changed to the more sane default of acting on only
+    packages that can be built for the current architecture. This change
+    is mostly useful when using minimal rules files with dh. Closes: #572077
 
  -- Joey Hess <joeyh@debian.org>  Thu, 18 Feb 2010 17:53:27 -0500
 
diff --git a/doc/PROGRAMMING b/doc/PROGRAMMING
index ca76b9c9..b6d3d16e 100644
--- a/doc/PROGRAMMING
+++ b/doc/PROGRAMMING
@@ -235,7 +235,9 @@ getpackages($type)
 	Returns a list of packages in the control file.
 	Pass "arch" or "indep" to specify arch-dependent or
 	-independent. If nothing is specified, returns all
-	packages.
+	packages (including packages that are not built
+	for this architecture). Pass "both" to get the union
+	of "arch" and "indep" packages.
 	As a side effect, populates %package_arches and %package_types with
 	the types of all packages (not only those returned).
 inhibit_log()