#1095130 fonts-freefont: please reconsider the python3-pkg-resources build-dependency

Package:
src:fonts-freefont
Source:
src:fonts-freefont
Submitter:
Alexandre Detiste
Date:
2025-09-17 17:07:02 UTC
Severity:
normal
#1095130#5
Date:
2025-02-04 06:45:56 UTC
From:
To:
Dear Maintainer,

It feels like adding a build-dep for python3-pkg-resources here
looks like a quick workaround to a bug in fontforge
back then around 2023-01-17.

Please retry the build without this dependency.

Greetings

Alexandre
#1095130#10
Date:
2025-02-04 07:34:17 UTC
From:
To:
Hi Alexandre,

Am Dienstag, dem 04.02.2025 um 07:45 +0100 schrieb Alexandre Detiste:
the build with the most current fontforge package:

```
Core python package 'pkg_resources' not found: Cannot discover plugins
```

This sounded severe enough to me to justify the Build-Depends.

Cheers,

 - Fabian
#1095130#15
Date:
2025-02-04 13:56:53 UTC
From:
To:
Am Dienstag, dem 04.02.2025 um 07:45 +0100 schrieb Alexandre Detiste:

That bug, should it be one, is still present in fontforge today:

https://github.com/fontforge/fontforge/blob/2e5bbdc933e125332ee0cdc6d74dabf1f90bb0f4/fontforge/plugin.c#L288

 - Fabian
#1095130#20
Date:
2025-02-04 18:17:13 UTC
From:
To:
Hi,

Indeed, python3-fontforge most likely need a runtime dependency on
python3-pkg-resources.

I m not trying to cast BTS spells from the phone to clone the bug etc...
it's more important to get a proper understanding.

Maybe the Python Team could chime in with more insights ?

Greetings

Alexandre

Le mar. 4 févr. 2025, 14:56, Fabian Greffrath <fabian@greffrath.com> a
écrit :
#1095130#25
Date:
2025-09-17 11:18:49 UTC
From:
To:
We believe that the bug you reported is fixed in the latest version of
fonts-freefont, which is due to be installed in the Debian FTP archive.

A summary of the changes between this version and the previous one is
attached.

Thank you for reporting the bug, which will now be closed.  If you
have further comments please address them to 1095130@bugs.debian.org,
and the maintainer will reopen the bug report if appropriate.

Debian distribution maintenance software
pp.
Alexandre Detiste <tchet@debian.org> (supplier of updated fonts-freefont package)

(This message was generated automatically at their request; if you
believe that there is a problem with it please contact the archive
administrators by mailing ftpmaster@ftp-master.debian.org)
Format: 1.8
Date: Wed, 17 Sep 2025 12:42:09 +0200
Source: fonts-freefont
Architecture: source
Version: 20211204+svn4273-3
Distribution: unstable
Urgency: medium
Maintainer: Debian Fonts Task Force <pkg-fonts-devel@lists.alioth.debian.org>
Changed-By: Alexandre Detiste <tchet@debian.org>
Closes: 1095130
Changes:
 fonts-freefont (20211204+svn4273-3) unstable; urgency=medium
 .
   * Team upload.
   * Remove python3-pkg-resources from Build-Depends-Indep. (Closes: #1095130)
   * Bump Standards-Version to 4.7.2.
   * Drop "Rules-Requires-Root: no": this is now the default
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#1095130#30
Date:
2025-09-17 11:31:37 UTC
From:
To:
Am 2025-09-17 13:21, schrieb Debian Bug Tracking System:

Has fontforge been fixed not to rely on python3-pkg-resources anymore?

  - Fabian
#1095130#35
Date:
2025-09-17 11:43:19 UTC
From:
To:
Le mer. 17 sept. 2025 à 13:40, Fabian Greffrath <fabian@greffrath.com> a écrit :
#1095130#40
Date:
2025-09-17 11:43:29 UTC
From:
To:
Le mer. 17 sept. 2025 à 13:40, Fabian Greffrath <fabian@greffrath.com> a écrit :
#1095130#45
Date:
2025-09-17 11:45:54 UTC
From:
To:
It seems fixed now,
(and should had always been an implementation detail of fontforge)

https://salsa.debian.org/fonts-team/fonts-freefont/-/pipelines/939083

I have seen with other python packages that a no-change rebuild
with newer setuptools is all what is needed to not need
python3-pkg-resources anymore

Which is what I mostly did (an happy accident)

https://tracker.debian.org/news/1663247/accepted-fontforge-120230101dfsg-5-source-into-unstable/

Greetings

Le mer. 17 sept. 2025 à 13:40, Fabian Greffrath <fabian@greffrath.com> a écrit :
#1095130#50
Date:
2025-09-17 11:53:56 UTC
From:
To:
https://salsa.debian.org/fonts-team/fonts-freefont/-/jobs/8304232

The warning "Core python package 'pkg_resources' not found: Cannot
discover plugins" is still scattered all over the place.

  - Fabian
#1095130#55
Date:
2025-09-17 12:08:24 UTC
From:
To:
control: reopen -1
thanks

Oh that's really bad !

Let's fix fontforge now and rebuild this against
 fontforge (>> 1:20230101~dfsg-6~)
later today.

Thanks for checking

Le mer. 17 sept. 2025 à 13:53, Fabian Greffrath <fabian@greffrath.com> a écrit :
#1095130#64
Date:
2025-09-17 12:16:59 UTC
From:
To:
This dependency should really be in fontforge itself
because it might affects somehow all these other fonts.

In  libfontforge4 precisely.

$ strings /usr/lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/libfontforge.so.4 | grep pkg_r
pkg_resources
Core python package 'pkg_resources' not found: Cannot discover plugins


$ reverse-depends -b fontforge -l
3270font
dkg-handwriting
fonts-agave
fonts-arabeyes
fonts-arphic-bkai00mp
fonts-arphic-bsmi00lp
fonts-arundina
fonts-atarist
fonts-breip
fonts-century-catalogue
fonts-chomsky
fonts-creep2
fonts-dejavu
fonts-ebgaramond
fonts-ebgaramond-initials
fonts-engadget
fonts-f500
fonts-freefont
fonts-georgewilliams
fonts-isabella
fonts-kacst-one
fonts-kalapi
fonts-karmilla
fonts-levien-museum
fonts-levien-typoscript
fonts-liberation
fonts-liberation-sans-narrow
fonts-linuxlibertine
fonts-lklug-sinhala
fonts-lohit-mlym
fonts-monapo
fonts-ocr-b
fonts-okolaks
fonts-oldstandard
fonts-osifont
fonts-play
fonts-prociono
fonts-rufscript
fonts-staypuft
fonts-tibetan-machine
fonts-tlwg
fonts-tuffy
fonts-unfonts-core
fonts-unfonts-extra
latex-cjk-chinese-arphic
libreoffice
lilypond
mftrace
reform-branding
scalable-cyrfonts
sjfonts
triod-postnaja
tvtime
unifont
xfonts-terminus
xfonts-traditional


Le mer. 17 sept. 2025 à 14:08, Alexandre Detiste
<alexandre.detiste@gmail.com> a écrit :
#1095130#69
Date:
2025-09-17 12:34:07 UTC
From:
To:
We believe that the bug you reported is fixed in the latest version of
fontforge, which is due to be installed in the Debian FTP archive.

A summary of the changes between this version and the previous one is
attached.

Thank you for reporting the bug, which will now be closed.  If you
have further comments please address them to 1095130@bugs.debian.org,
and the maintainer will reopen the bug report if appropriate.

Debian distribution maintenance software
pp.
Alexandre Detiste <tchet@debian.org> (supplier of updated fontforge package)

(This message was generated automatically at their request; if you
believe that there is a problem with it please contact the archive
administrators by mailing ftpmaster@ftp-master.debian.org)
Format: 1.8
Date: Wed, 17 Sep 2025 14:03:47 +0200
Source: fontforge
Architecture: source
Version: 1:20230101~dfsg-6
Distribution: unstable
Urgency: medium
Maintainer: Debian Fonts Task Force <debian-fonts@lists.debian.org>
Changed-By: Alexandre Detiste <tchet@debian.org>
Closes: 1095130
Changes:
 fontforge (1:20230101~dfsg-6) unstable; urgency=medium
 .
   * Team upload.
   * python3-fontforge needs a runtime dependency on python3-pkg-resources
     to work properly (Closes: #1095130)
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#1095130#78
Date:
2025-09-17 17:05:00 UTC
From:
To:
We believe that the bug you reported is fixed in the latest version of
fonts-freefont, which is due to be installed in the Debian FTP archive.

A summary of the changes between this version and the previous one is
attached.

Thank you for reporting the bug, which will now be closed.  If you
have further comments please address them to 1095130@bugs.debian.org,
and the maintainer will reopen the bug report if appropriate.

Debian distribution maintenance software
pp.
Alexandre Detiste <tchet@debian.org> (supplier of updated fonts-freefont package)

(This message was generated automatically at their request; if you
believe that there is a problem with it please contact the archive
administrators by mailing ftpmaster@ftp-master.debian.org)
Format: 1.8
Date: Wed, 17 Sep 2025 18:43:12 +0200
Source: fonts-freefont
Architecture: source
Version: 20211204+svn4273-4
Distribution: unstable
Urgency: medium
Maintainer: Debian Fonts Task Force <pkg-fonts-devel@lists.alioth.debian.org>
Changed-By: Alexandre Detiste <tchet@debian.org>
Closes: 1095130
Changes:
 fonts-freefont (20211204+svn4273-4) unstable; urgency=medium
 .
   * Team upload.
   * Rebuild against fixed fontforge that depends on python3-pkg-resources
     (Closes: #1095130)
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