Re: [PATCH 2/2] debianize: warn if package maintainer is default or empty

["'MOESSBAUER, Felix' via isar-users" <isar-users@googlegroups.com>]

On Wed, 2026-01-21 at 19:21 +0100, Jan Kiszka wrote:
> On 21.01.26 18:40, 'Felix Moessbauer' via isar-users wrote:
> > The debian policies require that the package maintainer is filled
> > with someone that can be contacted. Checks of the SBOM of various layers
> > have shown that often the maintainer is not explicitly set, probably
> > because we provide a default.
> > 
> > As a change of the default maintainer might create a lot of downstream
> > changes, we introduce a warning instead. Later on, we can remove the
> > default and just assert that it is set.
> 
> Indeed, this is likely creating at least a lot of warning noise for
> packages that are not maintained like Debian packages because they are
> proprietary. I'm not yet sure it will be helpful to enforce other pseudo
> addresses for those.

In the past this remained mostly unnoticed, as maintainer data is not
part of the manifest file and also not relevant for the license
clearing itself (still it was wrong). This changed with in introduction
of SBOMs as now this data is used downstream and by that more care
needs to be taken.

Anyways, even the isar docs request you to put in a proper string
instead of the default.

> 
> Maybe we should define some alternative placeholder that verbosely
> documents that this packages is proprietary, and different contact
> channels apply? Would still create noise in the transition.

No. Just because we rebuild something does not mean it is proprietary.
Only the isar user can decide what value to put in there. If you really
want to have a setting as you just proposed, just set the MAINTAINER at
a higher level (e.g. by providing the default value in the local.conf).
This is already supported today.

Nonetheless, for SBOMs we have the garbage in -> garbage out situation.
That's why I prefer to start with good data instead of downstream
papering over.

Felix

> 
> Jan
> 
> > 
> > Signed-off-by: Felix Moessbauer <felix.moessbauer@siemens.com>
> > ---
> >  meta/classes-recipe/debianize.bbclass | 10 ++++++++++
> >  1 file changed, 10 insertions(+)
> > 
> > diff --git a/meta/classes-recipe/debianize.bbclass b/meta/classes-recipe/debianize.bbclass
> > index a629feba..a255dd28 100644
> > --- a/meta/classes-recipe/debianize.bbclass
> > +++ b/meta/classes-recipe/debianize.bbclass
> > @@ -25,7 +25,16 @@ MAINTAINER ??= "Unknown maintainer <unknown@example.com>"
> >  
> >  DEBIANIZE_BUILD_DEPENDS ?= "debhelper-compat (= ${DEBIAN_COMPAT}), ${DEBIAN_BUILD_DEPENDS}"
> >  
> > +deb_check_maintainer() {
> > +	if [ -z "${MAINTAINER}" ]; then
> > +		bbwarn "MAINTAINER is empty. Please set a valid maintainer."
> > +	elif echo "${MAINTAINER}" | grep -q "@example.com"; then
> > +		bbwarn "MAINTAINER contains '@example.com'. Please set a valid maintainer."
> > +	fi
> > +}
> > +
> >  deb_add_changelog() {
> > +	deb_check_maintainer
> >  	changelog_v="${CHANGELOG_V}"
> >  	timestamp="${DEBIAN_CHANGELOG_TIMESTAMP}"
> >  	if [ -f ${S}/debian/changelog ]; then
> > @@ -84,6 +93,7 @@ deb_create_control[vardeps] += "DEBIANIZE_BUILD_DEPENDS \
> >                                  DEBIAN_RULES_REQUIRES_ROOT \
> >                                  DEBIAN_STANDARDS_VERSION"
> >  deb_create_control() {
> > +	deb_check_maintainer
> >  	# Add Source section
> >  	cat << EOF > ${S}/debian/control
> >  Source: ${BPN}
> 
> -- 
> Siemens AG, Foundational Technologies
> Linux Expert Center

-- 
Siemens AG
Linux Expert Center
Friedrich-Ludwig-Bauer-Str. 3
85748 Garching, Germany

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