Re: Bug#1132656: debian-policy: [multiarch] Please document dependency architecture qualifiers: foo:any, bar:native, baz:i386

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Hi,

Quoting Simon McVittie (2026-04-04 12:08:54)
> dpkg documents architecture qualifiers in its man pages, which could be=20
> used as a basis for this.
>=20
> deb-control(5) documents this for binary packages' dependency fields=20
> (Depends, Recommends etc.): a "real Debian architecture name" can appear =

> after the colon, and as a special case, foo:any is also allowed. I'm not =

> 100% sure what "real" means in this context: probably the intention is=20
> that a specific, concrete architecture name like foo:i386 is considered=20
> to be "real", but a wildcard like foo:any-i386 or foo:linux-any is not?
>=20
> deb-src-control(5) documents the same architecture qualifiers for=20
> Build-Depends etc. as for Depends, plus a second special case,=20
> foo:native, which is described as "will match the current build=20
> architecture if the package is not marked with Multi-Arch: foreign." I'm =

> not 100% sure whether this means that a B-D on something like=20
> bash:native will be treated as an unsatisfiable build-dependency in the=20
> case where bash *is* M-A: foreign (as in fact it is), or whether a B-D=20
> on bash:native is merely equivalent to a B-D on bash in that case. I=20
> would hope it's the latter - that seems like it would have more useful=20
> semantics, especially when packages were not initially marked=20
> Multi-Arch: foreign but could/should have been.

another source of existing documentation of this can be found here:

https://git.hadrons.org/cgit/debian/dpkg/dpkg.git/tree/doc/spec/multiarch.t=
xt?h=3Dpu/doc-multiarch-spec

Especially the tables have been useful references for me in the past and th=
ey
essentially mirror the original Ubuntu documentation of this:

https://wiki.ubuntu.com/MultiarchCross#Build_Dependencies

Thanks!

cheers, josch
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