Package: debhelper
Version: 12.6.1
Severity: wishlist

Year ago we made an effort to get rid of all the *.la files. Now,
dh_missing warns if they are not installed. Instead of adding
usr/lib/*/*.la to debian/not-installed of many packages or adding
overrides to remove them during the build, please ignore them globally.

Cheers

Sebastian Ramacher:

Hi Sebastian,

I can definitely see where you are coming from with this request.
Though as I understand it, some packages *want* to install their .la
file (source: https://wiki.debian.org/ReleaseGoals/LAFileRemoval).

Automatically hiding the file is an unsafe default because you silently
miss it when you need it.  Compared with the current default, you are
warned that you might be missing it and you have to actively consider
whether to include or exclude it.

Then again, this is solely on the basis that the information about .la
files are still correct.  If they are unconditionally useless now, then
I am happy to reconsider this.

Thanks,
~Niels