apt build-dep exim4-daemon-heavy omits libnsl-dev

[hanshenrik]

[Impact]

When building exim4-daemon-heavy, libnsl-dev is not explicitly included as a build dependency, which can lead to the following error:
/usr/bin/ld: cannot find -lnsl

The fix should be backported to allow exim4-daemon-heavy to build properly using its libnsl dependency.

This is fixed by adding libnsl-dev as a build dependency.

[Test Plan]

The fix can be confirmed through the reporters provided steps on a noble system after including noble apt source packages:

$ sudo apt purge libnsl-dev
$ sudo apt install dpkg-dev
$ sudo apt build-dep exim4-daemon-heavy
$ apt-get source exim4-daemon-heavy
$ cd exim4-...
$ dpkg-buildpackage -b -uc

[Where problems could occur]

With the inclusion of a new build dependency, builds for other binary packages in exim4 may change. This could lead to ftbfs or other issues from libnsl at buildtime.

[Other Info]

This was fixed in Debian in 4.97-6 and included in Oracular

[Original Description]

"apt build-dep exim4-daemon-heavy" is supposed to install all packages needed for building exim4-daemon-heavy, but it omits libnsl-dev, resulting in
/usr/bin/ld: cannot find -lnsl

steps to reproduce:
sudo apt purge libnsl-dev;
sudo apt install dpkg-dev;
sudo apt build-dep exim4-daemon-heavy;
sudo apt-get source exim4-daemon-heavy;
FOLDER_NAME=$(find /tmp/exim4_builddir -maxdepth 1 -type d -name "exim4-*" | head -n 1);
cd "$FOLDER_NAME";
dpkg-buildpackage -b -uc -us --jobs=$(nproc);

results in the "cannot find -lnsl" error.
---
ProblemType: Bug
ApportVersion: 2.28.1-0ubuntu3.1
Architecture: amd64
CasperMD5CheckResult: unknown
DistroRelease: Ubuntu 24.04
Package: exim4 4.97-4ubuntu4.1
PackageArchitecture: all
ProcEnviron:
 LANG=C
 PATH=(custom, no user)
 SHELL=/bin/bash
 TERM=xterm-256color
 XDG_RUNTIME_DIR=<set>
ProcVersionSignature:

Tags: noble
Uname: Linux 6.8.12-1-pve x86_64
UpgradeStatus: No upgrade log present (probably fresh install)
UserGroups: N/A
_MarkForUpload: True

[hanshenrik (hanshenrik)]

apport information

[hanshenrik (hanshenrik)]

apport information

[hanshenrik (hanshenrik)]

apport information

[Lena Voytek (lvoytek)]

Thank you for the bug report! Looks like libnsl-dev is missing as a build dependency in noble. It is fixed in oracular though. The fix was added through Debian in 4.97-6. I will target the bug to 24.04

[Timo Aaltonen (tjaalton)]

Hello hanshenrik, or anyone else affected,

Accepted exim4 into noble-proposed. The package will build now and be available at https://launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/exim4/4.97-4ubuntu4.2 in a few hours, and then in the -proposed repository.

Please help us by testing this new package. See https://wiki.ubuntu.com/Testing/EnableProposed for documentation on how to enable and use -proposed. Your feedback will aid us getting this update out to other Ubuntu users.

If this package fixes the bug for you, please add a comment to this bug, mentioning the version of the package you tested, what testing has been performed on the package and change the tag from verification-needed-noble to verification-done-noble. If it does not fix the bug for you, please add a comment stating that, and change the tag to verification-failed-noble. In either case, without details of your testing we will not be able to proceed.

Further information regarding the verification process can be found at https://wiki.ubuntu.com/QATeam/PerformingSRUVerification . Thank you in advance for helping!

N.B. The updated package will be released to -updates after the bug(s) fixed by this package have been verified and the package has been in -proposed for a minimum of 7 days.

[Lena Voytek (lvoytek)]

Verified for noble:

# lxc launch ubuntu:noble test-exim4-dependency
# lxc exec test-exim4-dependency bash

# apt update
# apt upgrade -y
# apt purge libnsl-dev
# apt install dpkg-dev

cat <<EOF >/etc/apt/sources.list.d/ubuntu-$(lsb_release -cs)-proposed.list
# Enable Ubuntu proposed archive
deb http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ $(lsb_release -cs)-proposed restricted main multiverse universe
EOF

Add src packages - such as

Types: deb-src
URIs: http://us.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/
Suites: noble noble-updates noble-backports noble-proposed
Components: main restricted universe multiverse
Signed-By: /usr/share/keyrings/ubuntu-archive-keyring.gpg

to /etc/apt/sources.list.d/ubuntu.sources

# apt update

# apt build-dep exim4-daemon-heavy

# su ubuntu # download source as a non-root user
# apt-get source exim4-daemon-heavy
# cd exim4-4.97
# dpkg-buildpackage -b -uc
Builds successfully with no dependency issues

[Launchpad Janitor (janitor)]

This bug was fixed in the package exim4 - 4.97-4ubuntu4.2

---------------
exim4 (4.97-4ubuntu4.2) noble; urgency=medium

  * d/p/lp2077893-*.patch: Fix crashes due to memory allocation when using
    PCRE2 (LP: #2077893).
  * d/control: Add libnsl-dev dependency for exim4-daemon-heavy (LP: #2084391).

 -- Lena Voytek <email address hidden> Wed, 16 Oct 2024 15:31:42 -0700

[Andreas Hasenack (ahasenack)]

The verification of the Stable Release Update for exim4 has completed successfully and the package is now being released to -updates. Subsequently, the Ubuntu Stable Release Updates Team is being unsubscribed and will not receive messages about this bug report. In the event that you encounter a regression using the package from -updates please report a new bug using ubuntu-bug and tag the bug report regression-update so we can easily find any regressions.