https://tracker.debian.org/pkg/stimfit

Issues preventing migration:
∙ ∙ Autopkgtest for stimfit/0.17.1-1: amd64: Failed ♻, arm64: Failed ♻, i386: Failed ♻, loong64: Failed ♻, ppc64el: Failed ♻, s390x: Failed ♻


...
166s autopkgtest [05:24:10]: test stimfit-help: [-----------------------
167s 05:24:11: Error: Unable to initialize GTK+, is DISPLAY set properly?
167s autopkgtest [05:24:11]: test stimfit-help: -----------------------]
167s autopkgtest [05:24:11]: test stimfit-help:  - - - - - - - - - - results - - - - - - - - - -
167s stimfit-help         FAIL stderr: 05:24:11: Error: Unable to initialize GTK+, is DISPLAY set properly?
...
167s autopkgtest [05:24:11]: @@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@ summary
167s python3-stfio-import PASS (superficial)
167s stimfit-help         FAIL stderr: 05:24:11: Error: Unable to initialize GTK+, is DISPLAY set properly?

Dear Adrian,

this bug has already been fixed in 0.17.1-2, which is waiting for sponsorship on Debian mentors.

https://mentors.debian.net/package/stimfit/

The failing test tried to run `stimfit --help`, which initializes the wx/GTK application and therefore fails in the headless ci.debian.net environment.

In 0.17.1-2 I replaced that test with a headless-safe test. The `python3-stfio` import autopkgtest remains unchanged.


Best wishes,
Christoph

Dear Adrian,

this bug has already been fixed in 0.17.1-2, which is waiting for sponsorship on Debian mentors.

https://mentors.debian.net/package/stimfit/

The failing test tried to run `stimfit --help`, which initializes the wx/GTK application and therefore fails in the headless ci.debian.net environment.

In 0.17.1-2 I replaced that test with a headless-safe test. The `python3-stfio` import autopkgtest remains unchanged.


Best wishes,
Christoph

This could be fixed by running inside xvfb-run.

The bigger problem is that "stimfit -h" returns 255,
which is likely the reason why "|| true" was added,
which would make the test pass despite certain errors.

If "stimfit -h" would return 0, then
  xvfb-run -a stimfit -h
should work as autopkgtest.[1]

cu
Adrian

[1] needs a xvfb test dependency, and might also need an allow-stderr
    autopkgtest restriction

Hi Christoph,

I've uploaded the package from mentors to unblock testing transition,
but let's keep this bug open as reference that some improvement to
the autopkgtest would be possible without huge effort.

cu
Adrian

Hi Adrian,

Thank you for the review and for sponsoring 0.17.1-2.

I have implemented the suggested follow-up. `stimfit -h` now prints
usage information and exits with status 0, while invalid options still
return a nonzero status:

https://github.com/neurodroid/stimfit/commit/7b28c1dd

The Debian autopkgtest now runs `xvfb-run -a stimfit -h` and checks both
the exit status and usage output. It no longer uses `|| true` or
`allow-stderr`:

https://github.com/neurodroid/stimfit/commit/8cbe8e07

Because of my limited resources (mainly time and expertise) and because
these changes do not affect Stimfit's core functionality, I used an LLM
to implement the changes. I reviewed the resulting changes and verified
them by compiling Stimfit, testing the help and invalid-option exit
statuses under Xvfb and running the Debian packaging checks.

The fix is recorded in an 0.17.2-1 UNRELEASED changelog entry with
"Closes: #1140597". Since 0.17.1-2 has already migrated successfully, I
suggest including the changes with the next upstream release.

Let me know if you have any further concerns or suggestions.

Best wishes
Christoph

We believe that the bug you reported is fixed in the latest version of
stimfit, 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 1140597@bugs.debian.org,
and the maintainer will reopen the bug report if appropriate.

Debian distribution maintenance software
pp.
Christoph Schmidt-Hieber <christsc@gmx.de> (supplier of updated stimfit 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: Tue, 11 Aug 2026 11:03:52 +0000
Source: stimfit
Architecture: source
Version: 0.17.2-1
Distribution: unstable
Urgency: medium
Maintainer: Christoph Schmidt-Hieber <christsc@gmx.de>
Changed-By: Christoph Schmidt-Hieber <christsc@gmx.de>
Closes: 1139613 1140597
Changes:
 stimfit (0.17.2-1) unstable; urgency=medium
 .
   * New upstream release
   * Fix command-line help to print usage and exit successfully.
   * Exercise command-line help under Xvfb in autopkgtest without masking
     failures. (Closes: #1140597)
   * Fix FTBFS with HDF5 2.1 by accepting the unnamespaced CMake targets
     exported by libhdf5-dev. (Closes: #1139613)
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