Bug#1141346: RFS: noctalia/5.0.0~beta1-1 -- A sleek and minimal desktop shell thoughtfully crafted for Wayland

On Wed, Aug 12, 2026 at 01:15:58PM +0900, Nick Hastings wrote:
> > W: noctalia: description-synopsis-starts-with-article
> > N:
> > N:   The first line of the "Description:" should omit any initial indefinite or
> > N:   definite article: "a", "an", or "the". A good heuristic is that it should
> > N:   be possible to substitute the package name and synopsis into this formula:
> > N:
> > N:   The package name provides {a,an,the,some} synopsis.
> > N:
> > N:   Please refer to The package synopsis, or short description (Section 6.2.2)
> > N:   in the Debian Developer's Reference for details.
> > N:
> > N:   Visibility: warning
> > N:   Show-Always: no
> > N:   Check: fields/description
> 
> The description:
> 
> At the time of this RFS the package had the description:
> 
> "A sleek and minimal desktop shell thoughtfully crafted for Wayland"
> 
> since then, at the request of  upstream, I changed it to:
> 
> "A sleek, customizable desktop shell crafted for Wayland"
> 
> Perhaps it could be changed to:
> 
> "Sleek, customizable desktop shell crafted for Wayland"
> 
> But I don't know if it is better to respect the request of upstream here
> or correct the lintian warning. I would appreciate guidance on this.

The purpose of the check is to give a consistent reading in Debian 
package viewers, thus its best to follow the check advice and remove 
the "A " leader.

[..]

> > W: noctalia: script-not-executable [usr/share/noctalia/assets/templates/cava/apply.sh]
> > N:
> > N:   This file starts with the #! sequence that marks interpreted scripts, but
> > N:   it is not executable.
> > N:
> > N:   There has been some discussion to allow such files in paths other than
> > N:   /usr/bin but there was ultimately no broad support for it.
> > N:
> > N:   Please refer to Bug#368792 for details.
> > N:
> > N:   Visibility: warning
> > N:   Show-Always: no
> > N:   Check: scripts
> > N:
> > N:
> > W: noctalia: script-not-executable [usr/share/noctalia/assets/templates/emacs/output-path.sh]
> > N:
> > W: noctalia: script-not-executable [usr/share/noctalia/assets/templates/labwc/apply.sh]
> > N:
> > W: noctalia: script-not-executable [usr/share/noctalia/assets/templates/mango/apply.sh]
> > N:
> > W: noctalia: script-not-executable [usr/share/noctalia/assets/templates/niri/apply.sh]
> > N:
> > W: noctalia: script-not-executable [usr/share/noctalia/assets/templates/scroll/apply.sh]
> > N:
> > W: noctalia: script-not-executable [usr/share/noctalia/assets/templates/sway/apply.sh]
> > N:
> 
> These scripts are not run directly, instead they are executed as
> "bash /usr/share/noctalia/assetes/templates/foo/apply.sh"
> 
> See usr/share/noctalia/assets/templates/builtin.toml
> 
> So although it looks a little strange it is functional. I can open an
> upstream issue and/or pr to make them all executable if that is
> desired.
> 
> For now I added an override_dh_install to ensure all the template *.sh
> scripts are executable. Is this acceptable?

Given you said above it's wrong for them to be executable, it's 
better to override the warning instead of making them executable.

> > I: noctalia: file-references-package-build-path [usr/bin/noctalia]
> > N:
> > N:   The listed file or maintainer script appears to reference the build path
> > N:   used to build the package as specified in the Build-Path field of the
> > N:   .buildinfo file.
> > N:
> > N:   This is likely to cause the package to be unreproducible, but it may also
> > N:   indicate that the package will not work correctly outside of the
> > N:   maintainer's own system.
> > N:
> > N:   Please note that this tag will not appear unless the .buildinfo file
> > N:   contains a Build-Path field. That field is optional. You may have to set
> > N:   DEB_BUILD_OPTIONS=buildinfo=+path or use
> > N:   --buildinfo-option=--always-include-path with dpkg-buildpackage when
> > N:   building.
> > N:
> > N:   Please refer to https://reproducible-builds.org/,
> > N:   https://wiki.debian.org/ReproducibleBuilds/BuildinfoFiles, and the
> > N:   dpkg-genbuildinfo(1) manual page for details.
> > N:
> > N:   Visibility: info
> > N:   Show-Always: no
> > N:   Check: files/contents
> 
> I see no 'usr/bin/noctali' in any .buildinfo files that I currently have
> on disk for this package. Perhaps this is fixed in the current version,
> or perhaps I'm not understanding what this lintian warning is stating.

% strings ./usr/bin/noctalia | grep repro
/build/reproducible-path/noctalia-5.0.0~beta.8/assets

This seems like a likely issue.

> > I: noctalia: font-in-non-font-package [usr/share/noctalia/assets/fonts/tabler.ttf]
> > N:
> > N:   This package contains a *.ttf, *.otf, or *.pfb file, file extensions used
> > N:   by TrueType, OpenType, or Type 1 fonts, but the package does not appear to
> > N:   be a dedicated font package. Dedicated font package names should begin
> > N:   with fonts-. (Type 1 fonts are also allowed in packages starting with
> > N:   xfonts-.) If the font is already packaged, you should depend on that
> > N:   package instead. Otherwise, normally the font should be packaged
> > N:   separately, since fonts are usually useful outside of the package that
> > N:   embeds them.
> > N:
> > N:   Visibility: info
> > N:   Show-Always: no
> > N:   Check: fonts
> 
> This font is not currently packaged for Debian. Since this is listed as
> an "info" not "warning" or "error", is it correct assume that this
> should not be considered a show stopper?

The more important question might be where the sources for the ttf 
are, and if the package build rebuilds the ttf.

 
> > X: noctalia source: very-long-line-length-in-source-file 740 > 512 [third_party/wuffs/wuffs-v0.4.c:49876]
> >
> 
> This is indeed code, and is indeed generated. This is how wuffs is
> supposed to be used. I can provide more information about wuffs if
> requested.

The DFSG team will probably want to know.

I've tried building noctalia_5.0.0~beta.8-1.dsc, and that seems to 
produce new lintian errors:

E: noctalia: depends-on-essential-package-without-using-version Depends: bash
E: noctalia: malformed-override Expected a colon [usr/share/lintian/overrides/noctalia:2]
W: noctalia: mismatched-override package-contains-documentation-outside-usr-share-doc usr/share/noctalia/assets/fonts/tabler-icons-license.txt [usr/share/lintian/overrides/noctalia:1]


Best,
Chris