[Bug 1730627] Re: xz compressed control.tar files not supported

[Dan Streetman]

Built a test package with the upstream patch here:
https://launchpad.net/~ddstreet/+archive/ubuntu/lp1730627

Then tested autopkgtest on bionic system, with the patched dpkg.  Fails
as expected with the current trusty dpkg:

$ autopkgtest -U dpkg_1.17.5ubuntu5.8.dsc -- lxd ubuntu-daily:trusty
...
autopkgtest [15:20:15]: ERROR: "dpkg --unpack /tmp/autopkgtest.wuLHN3/autopkgtest-satdep.deb" failed with stderr "dpkg-deb: error: archive '/tmp/autopkgtest.wuLHN3/autopkgtest-satdep.deb' has premature member 'control.tar.xz' before 'control.tar.gz', giving up


Build/autopkgtest successful with the patched trusty dpkg from PPA:

$ autopkgtest --setup-commands='sudo apt-add-repository ppa:ddstreet/lp1730627' -U dpkg_1.17.5ubuntu5.8.dsc -- lxd ubuntu-daily:trusty
...
dpkg-deb: building package `dpkg-dev' in `../dpkg-dev_1.17.5ubuntu5.8_all.deb'.
 dpkg-genchanges -b >../dpkg_1.17.5ubuntu5.8_amd64.changes
dpkg-genchanges: binary-only upload - not including any source code
 dpkg-source --after-build src
dpkg-source: info: using options from src/debian/source/options: --compression=xz
dpkg-buildpackage: binary only upload (no source included)
dpkg-source: info: using options from src/debian/source/options: --compression=xz
*                    SKIP no tests in this package
autopkgtest [15:29:22]: @@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@ summary
*                    SKIP no tests in this package

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https://bugs.launchpad.net/bugs/1730627

Title:
  xz compressed control.tar files not supported

Status in dpkg package in Ubuntu:
  Fix Released
Status in dpkg source package in Precise:
  Won't Fix
Status in dpkg source package in Trusty:
  Confirmed

Bug description:
  trusty's dpkg (1.17.5ubuntu5.7) cannot handle .deb files that contain
  control.tar files that are compressed using the xz compressor.

  Here's an example of such a case when trying to show the contents of a
  .deb file from bionic's repositories:

  dpkg-deb: error: archive './var/cache/apt/archives/ubuntu-
  minimal_1.406_amd64.deb' has premature member 'control.tar.xz' before
  'control.tar.gz', giving up

  This issue makes it currently impossible to create a bionic
  environment using debootstrap (currently from trusty-proposed).

  
  I have observed the issue on trusty, precisely on

  $ lsb_release -rd
  Description:	Ubuntu 14.04.5 LTS
  Release:	14.04

  using

  $ apt-cache policy dpkg
  dpkg:
    Installed: 1.17.5ubuntu5.7
    Candidate: 1.17.5ubuntu5.7
    Version table:
   *** 1.17.5ubuntu5.7 0
          500 mirror://mirrors.ubuntu.com/mirrors.txt/ trusty-updates/main amd64 Packages
          100 /var/lib/dpkg/status
       1.17.5ubuntu5.6 0
          500 http://security.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ trusty-security/main amd64 Packages
       1.17.5ubuntu5 0
          500 mirror://mirrors.ubuntu.com/mirrors.txt/ trusty/main amd64 Packages

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