I hadn't worked on packaging since long, but now my workflow is broken
in a strange way - apparently, importing a new upstream version doesn't
work :

$ gbp import-orig --uscan
gbp:info: Launching uscan...
Newest version of coq-hammer on remote site is 1.3.2+9.1, local version
is 1.3.2+9.0
 => Newer package available from:
        =>
https://github.com/lukaszcz/coqhammer/archive/refs/tags/v1.3.2+9.1.tar.gz
Leaving ../coq-hammer_1.3.2+9.1.orig.tar.gz where it is.
gbp:info: Using uscan downloaded tarball ../coq-
hammer_1.3.2+9.1.orig.tar.gz
What is the upstream version? [1.3.2+9.1]
gbp:info: Importing '../coq-hammer_1.3.2+9.1.orig.tar.gz' to branch
'upstream'...
gbp:info: Source package is coq-hammer
gbp:info: Upstream version is 1.3.2+9.1
gbp:error: Import of ../coq-hammer_1.3.2+9.1.orig.tar.gz failed:
Couldn't commit to 'pristine-tar' with upstream
'2ea1d9814513d58f08f8401c1397109a7b7b7ae3': tar: This does not look
like a tar archive
tar: Exiting with failure status due to previous errors
error: excessively large binary delta for /tmp/pristine-
tar.tY7F8p09zt/origtarball
(Please consider filing a bug report.)
pristine-tar: failed to generate delta
gbp:error: Error detected, Will roll back changes.
gbp:info: Rolling back branch upstream by resetting it to
86b4c9a503452325aaabc441b157f1cfeaeef3c3
gbp:info: Rolling back branch pristine-tar by resetting it to
cdedd02f1c539ceaa2179e03f4bf8153d41b4de4
gbp:error: Rolled back changes after import error.


and directly with the tarball:

$ gbp import-orig ../coq-hammer_1.3.2+9.1.orig.tar.gz
What is the upstream version? [1.3.2+9.1]
gbp:info: Importing '../coq-hammer_1.3.2+9.1.orig.tar.gz' to branch
'upstream'...
gbp:info: Source package is coq-hammer
gbp:info: Upstream version is 1.3.2+9.1
gbp:error: Import of ../coq-hammer_1.3.2+9.1.orig.tar.gz failed:
Couldn't commit to 'pristine-tar' with upstream
'2ea1d9814513d58f08f8401c1397109a7b7b7ae3': tar: This does not look
like a tar archive
tar: Exiting with failure status due to previous errors
error: excessively large binary delta for /tmp/pristine-
tar.Chpg1a_qnq/origtarball
(Please consider filing a bug report.)
pristine-tar: failed to generate delta
gbp:error: Error detected, Will roll back changes.
gbp:info: Rolling back branch upstream by resetting it to
86b4c9a503452325aaabc441b157f1cfeaeef3c3
gbp:info: Rolling back branch pristine-tar by resetting it to
cdedd02f1c539ceaa2179e03f4bf8153d41b4de4
gbp:error: Rolled back changes after import error.


I checked:
- that the file I point to is indeed a valid tarball (well, a link to a
valid tarball to be precise) ;
- that I get a similar failure with other packages.

Cheers,

J.Puydt

Hi,

I wanted to work on my packages again... failed with an error, went to
see if someone had already reported the same : yes... and it's me.
ent.

Here is a simple session showing how to reproduce the failure:

$ gbp clone https://salsa.debian.org/ocaml-team/elpi
$ cd elpi
$ gbp import-orig --uscan
gbp:info: Cloning from 'https://salsa.debian.org/ocaml-team/elpi'
gbp:info: Launching uscan...
Newest version of elpi on remote site is 3.4.5, local version is 3.4.3
 => Newer package available from:
        =>
https://github.com/LPCIC/elpi/archive/refs/tags/v3.4.5.tar.gz
Successfully symlinked ../v3.4.5.tar.gz to ../elpi_3.4.5.orig.tar.gz.
gbp:info: Using uscan downloaded tarball ../elpi_3.4.5.orig.tar.gz
What is the upstream version? [3.4.5]
gbp:info: Importing '../elpi_3.4.5.orig.tar.gz' to branch
'upstream/latest'...
gbp:info: Source package is elpi
gbp:info: Upstream version is 3.4.5
gbp:error: Import of ../elpi_3.4.5.orig.tar.gz failed: Couldn't commit
to 'pristine-tar' with upstream
'143112a9fe70b23d66d7d8b7da11cb12965c206f': tar: This does not look
like a tar archive
tar: Exiting with failure status due to previous errors
error: excessively large binary delta for /tmp/pristine-
tar.ssLYm7XX9J/origtarball
(Please consider filing a bug report.)
pristine-tar: failed to generate delta
gbp:error: Error detected, Will roll back changes.
gbp:info: Rolling back branch upstream/latest by resetting it to
3d3ad30dc66e6df2465594610d2e3e2af6b23ffd
gbp:info: Rolling back branch pristine-tar by resetting it to
4350b5792b78268da97cd6dc3d37513b4a7d18b3
gbp:error: Rolled back changes after import error.

Again I can confirm that tar is quite happy with
elpi_3.4.5.orig.tar.gz, so I don't understand what the problem actually
is.

Cheers,

J.Puydt

Hi Julien,

Or maybe something strange in your ~/.gbp.conf ?  </wild guess>



Le Tue, Apr 07, 2026 at 06:52:50PM +0200, Julien Puydt a écrit :

Hi,

Le mercredi 08 avril 2026 à 08:39 +0200, Stéphane Glondu a écrit :

"df -h /tmp" says 16G of free space.

Hmmmm... see below.

Yes, I did.

I just noticed that the failing packages all come from github.com ;
while all others come from other places. I tried to download a .tar.gz
by hand, and the import-orig fails, even though tar extracts the
archive without any warning.

Looks like a lead, finally - even if not a fix yet.

Cheers,

JP

Hi,

Le 08/04/2026 à 18:40, Julien Puydt a écrit :

To progress, what is the output of the following commands (esp.
sha256sum) for you?


Cheers,

Hi,

Le jeudi 09 avril 2026 à 08:45 +0200, Stéphane Glondu a écrit :

I downloaded the same tarball with uscan, checked it had the same
sha256sum... and gbp import-orig on the file failed with the usual
error message:

 gbp import-orig ../elpi_3.6.2.orig.tar.gz
What is the upstream version? [3.6.2]
gbp:info: Importing '../elpi_3.6.2.orig.tar.gz' to branch
'upstream/latest'...
gbp:info: Source package is elpi
gbp:info: Upstream version is 3.6.2
gbp:error: Import of ../elpi_3.6.2.orig.tar.gz failed: Couldn't commit
to 'pristine-tar' with upstream
'9a1d5349a3a04c00d3aab51ed5b4d84e09ccf1ae': tar: This does not look
like a tar archive
tar: Exiting with failure status due to previous errors
error: excessively large binary delta for /tmp/pristine-
tar.RZwwqhgbXu/origtarball
(Please consider filing a bug report.)
pristine-tar: failed to generate delta
gbp:error: Error detected, Will roll back changes.
gbp:info: Rolling back branch upstream/latest by resetting it to
3d3ad30dc66e6df2465594610d2e3e2af6b23ffd
gbp:info: Rolling back branch pristine-tar by resetting it to
4350b5792b78268da97cd6dc3d37513b4a7d18b3
gbp:error: Rolled back changes after import error.


This is incredible!

JP

[I removed Sebastian and #1133718 from recipients and put back #1122524]

Le 29/04/2026 à 07:15, Julien Puydt a écrit :

What version of pristine-tar are you using? Can you use "reportbug
pristine-tar" on the same machine to get the versions of all its
dependencies?

reassign -1 pristine-tar

Hi,

if I summarize:

- the tarball I get from gbp import-orig --uscan has the same checksum
than the one others get ;

- pistine-tar is the one unhappy with the tarball, since I get the same
error calling it directly.

Here is the system information that could be relevant:
pristine-tar             1.50+nmu2
bzip2                    1.0.8-6+b2
libbz2-1.0               1.0.8-6+b2
libc6                    2.42-15
libsys-cpuaffinity-perl  1.13~03-2+b4
pbzip2                   1.1.13-1
perl                     5.40.1-7+b1
pixz                     1.0.7-4
tar                      1.35+dfsg-4
xdelta                   1.1.3-10.8+b1
xdelta3                  3.0.11-dfsg-1.2
xz-utils                 5.8.3-1
zlib1g                   1:1.3.dfsg+really1.3.2-3


Cheers,

J.Puydt

Dear Julien,

Le 04/05/2026 à 09:13, Julien Puydt a écrit :

I have the very same versions...

There must be something else in your environment altering the behaviour
of pristine-tar... Maybe a configuration file, or something interfering
in your PATH... Have you tried in a chroot?

Cheers,

Hi,

I tried to investigate further: I tried to call pristine-tar by hand,
but under strace to see what it was doing.

It doesn't look like it reads any configuration file in my home
directory ; but in fact, looking for "elpi_3.7.1.orig.tar.gz", I see it
in the execve command line right at the start, and in a newfsstatat.
That is all!

I created a dummy user on my system and tried to gbp clone then gbp
import-orig --uscan on the elpi repository: it failed with the very
same error message! That looks even less like a configuration issue.

I don't know how to test in a chroot.

I suspect a corrupted file somewhere...

Cheers,

JP

Hi,

Andrey Rakhmatullin suggested to use:
  mmdebstrap --chrooted-customize-hook=bash unstable /dev/null

for the bootstrap test, so now I can say it fails in a chroot too.

So in short:
- it fails on my account on my box ;
- it fails on a new account on my box ;
- it fails in a chroot on my box...

and I still don't know why.

Cheers,

JP

For the record, I did (in the shell given by the command above):

   cd tmp
   apt-get install git-buildpackage pristine-tar devscripts
   adduser sbuild
   runuser -u sbuild bash
   gbp clone https://salsa.debian.org/ocaml-team/coq-hammer.git
   cd coq-hammer/
   gbp import-orig --uscan

and it works for me.
Weird...

Did you try on another box? Even a virtual one... (hint: debvm)


Cheers,

Le mardi 30 juin 2026 à 15:33 +0200, Stéphane Glondu a écrit :

Oh, I tried again following your line and it worked. The problem is
that I didn't check the error message, only that it failed.

But then I realized I had only done "apt install git-buildpackage" --
no pristine-tar! So now I'm having the following pretty interesting
situation in the chroot:
- apt install git-buildpackage
- checkout the elpi and coq-hammer packages (both from salsa/ocaml-
team)
- try to gbp import-orig --uscan in both
- coq-hammer works, elpi fails stating pristine-tar is not available
- now apt install pristine-tar
- now elpi works.

How could that work with coq-hammer in a pristine-tar-less chroot ?

Why does it fail with pristine-tar on my box ?

I'm so confused...

JP

On 2026-06-30 Julien Puydt <julien.puydt@gmail.com> wrote:
[...]

Hello Julien,

Because you have some local configuration in any of the locations listed
in gbp.conf(5) which
a) enables pristine-tar (coq-hammer does not include a debian/gbp.conf
  file that enables this, although it should since the packaging does use
  pristine-tar)

b) probaly has more settings in it, one of which is broken and causes
the reported issue.

cu Andreas