libcap-ng gained a build dependency on libbluetooth-dev. bluez has a
wild zoo of build dependencies many of which do not presently
participate in architecture bootstrap. It also pulls a pile of gir
packages that cannot be cross built without qemu. libcap-ng also is in
the bootstrap set. This is the sort of situation that fundamentally
breaks Debian's ability to be bootstrapped. I am therefore filing this
as serious and hope you agree. Please downgrade if not.

As for solutions, I see that libbluetooth-dev is needed for building
utils, but utils is not what the bootstrap needs. Hence, I propose
adding a pkg.libcap-ng.noutils build profile that disables both. I
compared a full build with a profile build and the packages emitted from
both are bit-identical on amd64. Bootstrap builds can enable this
profile and proceed as they did before (albeit without a libcap-ng-utils
package).

Let me know what you think.

Helmut

Hi Helmut,

I saw that something was off, but I didn't think it was this. I can
remove libbluetooth-dev if that is better solution, it's optional for
utils.

I can also add your patch if you prefer.

Håvard

Generally, we prefer Debian packages to enable functionality that they
can. Bootstrapping is a necessity, but it's the main driver of our
packaging decisions. I'd like to leave this at your discretion.

Either way works equally fine for bootstrapping. Those builds already
have to turn on the nopython build profile. Enabling another profile is
not a burden to bootstrapping.

The main burden to libcap-ng maintenance is that these profiles need to
work with future changes. If they cease doing so, the most likely
outcome is that I send a patch.

I spent a brief look at the autopkgtest failures. python3-defaults is in
the process of dropping Python 3.13 as a supported version, but this
hasn't migrated to forky yet. So when libcap-ng is built in sid (without
3.13) and then tested in forky (with 3.13), the test fails importing the
module. This issue should resolve itself once python3-defaults migrates.
The heimdal regression is not as obvious.

Helmut

Hello,

Bug #1146424 in libcap-ng reported by you has been fixed in the
Git repository and is awaiting an upload. You can see the commit
message below and you can check the diff of the fix at:

https://salsa.debian.org/debian/libcap-ng/-/commit/22457a1ce862a97a39f4d0346052a31d90fa16b9
Patch by Helmut Grohne
------------------------------------------------------------------------

(this message was generated automatically)
-- 
Greetings

https://bugs.debian.org/1146424

We believe that the bug you reported is fixed in the latest version of
libcap-ng, 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 1146424@bugs.debian.org,
and the maintainer will reopen the bug report if appropriate.

Debian distribution maintenance software
pp.
Håvard F. Aasen <havard.f.aasen@pfft.no> (supplier of updated libcap-ng 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, 02 Sep 2026 21:59:53 +0200
Source: libcap-ng
Architecture: source
Version: 0.9.5-2
Distribution: unstable
Urgency: medium
Maintainer: Håvard F. Aasen <havard.f.aasen@pfft.no>
Changed-By: Håvard F. Aasen <havard.f.aasen@pfft.no>
Closes: 1146424
Changes:
 libcap-ng (0.9.5-2) unstable; urgency=medium
 .
   [ Helmut Grohne ]
   * Make bluetooth build dependency optional. Closes: #1146424
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