sorry - that 'bash' was a copy-paste error. I just tried re-running the build (using the 'patched-to-use correct gcc' libcap2 fromhttps://launchpad.net/~linaro-foundations/+archive/cross-alip - I see it used to be a cdbs package back at v2.16 and now is a debhelper package - that confused me for a mo) in a clean natty chroot created accoring to the 'cross-building nano' howto and got this: Building working tree cache ... libcap2 -> attr (libattr1-dev) libcap2 -> pam (libpam0g-dev) Recursing: attr -> libcap2 Recursing: pam -> libcap2 Build sequence: attr* pam* libcap2* sudo apt-get -y --allow-unauthenticated -o Dir::State::Lists=/home/wookey/testing/build/natty/build/cleantest/lists.apt -o Dir::Cache::pkgcache=/home/wookey/testing/build/natty/build/cleantest/pkgcache.bin -o Dir::Cache::srcpkgcache=/home/wookey/testing/build/natty/build/cleantest/srcpkgcache.bin -o Dir::Etc::sourcelist=/home/wookey/testing/build/natty/build/cleantest/sources.list --no-install-recommends install debhelper indent libattr1-dev libpam0g-dev Reading package lists... Done Building dependency tree Reading state information... Done The following extra packages will be installed: html2text libattr1 po-debconf Suggested packages: dh-make libmail-box-perl Recommended packages: libmail-sendmail-perl The following NEW packages will be installed: debhelper html2text indent libattr1-dev libpam0g-dev po-debconf The following packages will be upgraded: libattr1 1 upgraded, 6 newly installed, 0 to remove and 22 not upgraded. Need to get 1061 kB of archives. After this operation, 3383 kB of additional disk space will be used. WARNING: The following packages cannot be authenticated! libattr1 html2text po-debconf debhelper indent libpam0g-dev libattr1-dev Authentication warning overridden. Get:1 http://ppa.launchpad.net/linaro-foundations/cross-alip/ubuntu/ natty/main libattr1 amd64 1:2.4.44-2ubuntu3cross1 [13.3 kB] Get:2 http://ppa.launchpad.net/linaro-foundations/cross-alip/ubuntu/ natty/main libattr1-dev amd64 1:2.4.44-2ubuntu3cross1 [37.1 kB] Get:3 http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ natty/main html2text amd64 1.3.2a-15 [104 kB] Get:4 http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ natty/main po-debconf all 1.0.16+nmu1 [212 kB] Get:5 http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ natty/main debhelper all 8.1.2ubuntu4 [482 kB] Get:6 http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ natty/main indent amd64 2.2.11-1 [87.7 kB] Get:7 http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ natty/main libpam0g-dev amd64 1.1.2-2ubuntu8 [125 kB] Fetched 1061 kB in 10s (98.1 kB/s) debconf: unable to initialize frontend: Dialog debconf: (No usable dialog-like program is installed, so the dialog based frontend cannot be used. at /usr/share/perl5/Debconf/FrontEnd/Dialog.pm line 75, <> line 7.) debconf: falling back to frontend: Readline (Reading database ... 16150 files and directories currently installed.) Preparing to replace libattr1 1:2.4.44-2ubuntu3 (using .../libattr1_1%3a2.4.44-2ubuntu3cross1_amd64.deb) ... Unpacking replacement libattr1 ... Setting up libattr1 (1:2.4.44-2ubuntu3cross1) ... Processing triggers for libc-bin ... ldconfig deferred processing now taking place Selecting previously deselected package html2text. (Reading database ... 16150 files and directories currently installed.) Unpacking html2text (from .../html2text_1.3.2a-15_amd64.deb) ... Selecting previously deselected package po-debconf. Unpacking po-debconf (from .../po-debconf_1.0.16+nmu1_all.deb) ... Selecting previously deselected package debhelper. Unpacking debhelper (from .../debhelper_8.1.2ubuntu4_all.deb) ... Selecting previously deselected package indent. Unpacking indent (from .../indent_2.2.11-1_amd64.deb) ... Selecting previously deselected package libpam0g-dev. Unpacking libpam0g-dev (from .../libpam0g-dev_1.1.2-2ubuntu8_amd64.deb) ... Selecting previously deselected package libattr1-dev. Unpacking libattr1-dev (from .../libattr1-dev_1%3a2.4.44-2ubuntu3cross1_amd64.deb) ... Processing triggers for man-db ... debconf: unable to initialize frontend: Dialog debconf: (No usable dialog-like program is installed, so the dialog based frontend cannot be used. at /usr/share/perl5/Debconf/FrontEnd/Dialog.pm line 75.) debconf: falling back to frontend: Readline Setting up html2text (1.3.2a-15) ... Setting up po-debconf (1.0.16+nmu1) ... Setting up debhelper (8.1.2ubuntu4) ... Setting up indent (2.2.11-1) ... Setting up libpam0g-dev (1.1.2-2ubuntu8) ... Setting up libattr1-dev (1:2.4.44-2ubuntu3cross1) ... ===== Importing attr_1:2.4.44-2ubuntu3cross1 ===== Considering binary attr Considering binary libattr1-dev Considering binary libattr1 apt-ftparchive generate apt.conf .: 0 files 0 B 0s Packages done, Starting contents. Done. 0 B in 0 archives. Took 0s apt-get --allow-unauthenticated -o Dir::State::Lists=/home/wookey/testing/build/natty/build/cleantest/lists.apt -o Dir::Cache::pkgcache=/home/wookey/testing/build/natty/build/cleantest/pkgcache.bin -o Dir::Cache::srcpkgcache=/home/wookey/testing/build/natty/build/cleantest/srcpkgcache.bin --allow-unauthenticated -o Dir::Etc::sourcelist=/home/wookey/testing/build/natty/build/cleantest/sources.list.destdir -o Dir::Etc::sourceparts=#clear -o APT::List-Cleanup=false -o Debug::NoLocking=true update Ign file: ./ InRelease Ign file: ./ Release.gpg Ign file: ./ Release Ign file: ./ Translation-en Reading package lists... Done ===== Importing pam_1.1.2-2ubuntu8 ===== Considering binary libpam0g apt-get -oAPT::Architecture=armel download libpam0g:armel apt-cache -oAPT::Architecture=armel show libpam0g:armel Package: libpam0g ... Considering binary libpam-modules Considering binary libpam-modules-bin Considering binary libpam-runtime Considering binary libpam0g-dev Considering binary libpam-cracklib Considering binary libpam-doc dpkg-cross -a armel -A -M -b -X multiarch-support -X debconf -X debconf-2.0 -X libpam0g-util libpam0g_1.1.2-2ubuntu8_armel.deb libpam0g-dev_1.1.2-2ubuntu8_armel.deb Building libpam0g-dev-armel-cross_1.1.2-2ubuntu8_all.deb dpkg-deb: building package `libpam0g-dev-armel-cross' in `./libpam0g-dev-armel-cross_1.1.2-2ubuntu8_all.deb'. dpkg-cross: Multi-Arch package detected; processing anyway as --convert-mulitarch specified. Building libpam0g-armel-cross_1.1.2-2ubuntu8_all.deb dpkg-deb: building package `libpam0g-armel-cross' in `./libpam0g-armel-cross_1.1.2-2ubuntu8_all.deb'. [u'libpam0g-armel-cross_1.1.2-2ubuntu8_all.deb', u'libpam0g-dev-armel-cross_1.1.2-2ubuntu8_all.deb'] apt-ftparchive generate apt.conf .: New 11.4 kB 9 files 827 kB 0s Packages done, Starting contents. Done. 827 kB in 9 archives. Took 0s apt-get --allow-unauthenticated -o Dir::State::Lists=/home/wookey/testing/build/natty/build/cleantest/lists.apt -o Dir::Cache::pkgcache=/home/wookey/testing/build/natty/build/cleantest/pkgcache.bin -o Dir::Cache::srcpkgcache=/home/wookey/testing/build/natty/build/cleantest/srcpkgcache.bin --allow-unauthenticated -o Dir::Etc::sourcelist=/home/wookey/testing/build/natty/build/cleantest/sources.list.destdir -o Dir::Etc::sourceparts=#clear -o APT::List-Cleanup=false -o Debug::NoLocking=true update ... Reading package lists... Done Considering source package attr Considering source package pam Considering source package libcap2 sudo apt-get -y --allow-unauthenticated -o Dir::State::Lists=/home/wookey/testing/build/natty/build/cleantest/lists.apt -o Dir::Cache::pkgcache=/home/wookey/testing/build/natty/build/cleantest/pkgcache.bin -o Dir::Cache::srcpkgcache=/home/wookey/testing/build/natty/build/cleantest/srcpkgcache.bin -o Dir::Etc::sourcelist=/home/wookey/testing/build/natty/build/cleantest/sources.list --no-install-recommends install libpam0g-dev-armel-cross The following extra packages will be installed: libpam0g-armel-cross The following NEW packages will be installed: libpam0g-armel-cross libpam0g-dev-armel-cross 0 upgraded, 2 newly installed, 0 to remove and 22 not upgraded. Need to get 0 B/67.5 kB of archives. After this operation, 0 B of additional disk space will be used. WARNING: The following packages cannot be authenticated! libpam0g-armel-cross libpam0g-dev-armel-cross Authentication warning overridden. debconf: unable to initialize frontend: Dialog debconf: (No usable dialog-like program is installed, so the dialog based frontend cannot be used. at /usr/share/perl5/Debconf/FrontEnd/Dialog.pm line 75, <> line 2.) debconf: falling back to frontend: Readline Selecting previously deselected package libpam0g-armel-cross. (Reading database ... 16669 files and directories currently installed.) Unpacking libpam0g-armel-cross (from .../libpam0g-armel-cross_1.1.2-2ubuntu8_all.deb) ... Selecting previously deselected package libpam0g-dev-armel-cross. Unpacking libpam0g-dev-armel-cross (from .../libpam0g-dev-armel-cross_1.1.2-2ubuntu8_all.deb) ... Setting up libpam0g-armel-cross (1.1.2-2ubuntu8) ... Setting up libpam0g-dev-armel-cross (1.1.2-2ubuntu8) ... ===== Building libcap2_1:2.20-1cross1 ===== ... gcc -O2 -fPIC -I/home/wookey/testing/build/natty/build/cleantest/libcap2/libcap/../libcap/include -I/home/wookey/testing/build/natty/build/cleantest/libcap2/libcap/../libcap/include _makenames.c -o _makenames ./_makenames > cap_names.h arm-linux-gnueabi-gcc -O2 -Dlinux -Wall -Wwrite-strings -Wpointer-arith -Wcast-qual -Wcast-align -Wstrict-prototypes -Wmissing-prototypes -Wnested-externs -Winline -Wshadow -g -fPIC -I/home/wookey/testing/build/natty/build/cleantest/libcap2/libcap/../libcap/include -I/home/wookey/testing/build/natty/build/cleantest/libcap2/libcap/../libcap/include -c cap_alloc.c -o cap_alloc.o ... arm-linux-gnueabi-gcc -Wl,-x -shared -O2 -Dlinux -Wall -Wwrite-strings -Wpointer-arith -Wcast-qual -Wcast-align -Wstrict-prototypes -Wmissing-prototypes -Wnested-externs -Winline -Wshadow -g -L/home/wookey/testing/build/natty/build/cleantest/libcap2/libcap/../libcap -lattr -Wl,-soname,libcap.so.2 -o libcap.so.2.20 cap_alloc.o cap_proc.o cap_extint.o cap_flag.o cap_text.o cap_file.o /usr/lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/libattr.so: file not recognized: File format not recognized So xdeb has still failed to install libattr-cross for some reason. at the end of the build: $dpkg --get-selections | grep cross dpkg-cross install libc6-armel-cross install libc6-dev-armel-cross install libdebian-dpkgcross-perl install libgcc1-armel-cross install libgomp1-armel-cross install libpam0g-armel-cross install libpam0g-dev-armel-cross install libstdc++6-4.5-dev-armel-cross install libstdc++6-armel-cross install linux-libc-dev-armel-cross install so I agree this isn't a bug in libcap2, but it does seem to be a bug in xdeb. Possibly only manifesting under natty. I'll check an oneiric build later.