On 04/05/2017 07:02 PM, Lukas Schwaighofer wrote: > On Wed, 5 Apr 2017 18:25:04 +0200 > Hugo Lefeuvre <h...@debian.org> wrote: >>> If I remove `usr/sbin` from dirs, buildpackage fails complaining >>> that the directory does not exist (so something in the build system >>> is slightly broken). >> >> The error message is >> >> /usr/bin/install -c -m 555 -o bin -g bin >> arpwatch /build/arpwatch-2.1a15/debian/arpwatch/usr/sbin /usr/bin/install: >> cannot create regular file >> '/build/arpwatch-2.1a15/debian/arpwatch/usr/sbin': No such file or >> directory Makefile:114: recipe for target 'install' failed >> >> looks like the Makefile installs files under usr/sbin, but doesn't >> create the directory if it doesn't exist. This is rather a Makefile >> bug. > > With "build system" I meant this process of autotools creating the > Makefile, and `make install` doing something slightly wrong. Anyway, > that means keeping `usr/sbin` in the dirs file is the correct "fix", > right?
The problem is that dirs is only interpreted by dh_installdirs, which is typically run after dh_auto_install, so that wouldn't actually solve your problem. You should probably just patch the build system to create the install directory if it doesn't exist. (Maybe just use install -D to copy the file, that will auto-create the directories leading up to the target.) Regards, Christian