#985076 aptitude fails to resolve build dependencies for node-mermaid buster-backports build but aspcud resolved it correctly

Package:
aptitude
Source:
aptitude
Description:
terminal-based package manager
Submitter:
Pirate Praveen
Date:
2021-03-12 16:39:03 UTC
Severity:
normal
#985076#5
Date:
2021-03-12 16:25:32 UTC
From:
To:
When building node-mermaid
(https://salsa.debian.org/js-team/node-mermaid and buster-backports
branch or debian/8.9.1+ds+_cs26.20.25-1_bpo10+1 tag) with this command,

sbuild -A -s --force-orig-source -c buster-amd64-sbuild
--extra-repository='deb http://deb.debian.org/debian buster-backports 
main' --extra-repository='deb http://incoming.debian.org/debian-buildd
buildd-buster-backports main' --build-dep-resolver=aptitude
--no-run-lintian

Gives this putput,

The following packages have unmet dependencies:
 node-babel7 : Depends: node-browserslist (>= 4.16~) but it is not
going to be installed
               Depends: node-chalk (>= 4~) but 2.3.0-2 is to be
installed
               Depends: node-commander (>= 4.1.1) but 2.12.2-3 is to be
installed
               Depends: node-core-js (>= 3.1.1~) but it is not going to
be installed
               Depends: node-fs-readdir-recursive (>= 1.1.0~) but it is
not going to be installed
               Depends: node-lodash (>= 4.17.19+dfsg1~) but
4.17.11+dfsg-2+deb10u1 is to be installed
               Depends: node-regenerator-transform (>= 0.14~) but it is
not going to be installed
               Depends: node-semver (>= 7.0~) but it is not going to be
installed
 node-d3 : Depends: node-d3-array (>= 1.2.4~) but 1.2.1-3 is to be
installed
           Depends: node-d3-axis (>= 1.0.12~) but it is not going to be
installed
           Depends: node-d3-brush (>= 1.0.6~) but it is not going to be
installed
           Depends: node-d3-chord (>= 1.0.6~) but it is not going to be
installed
           Depends: node-d3-collection (>= 1.0.7~) but it is not going
to be installed
           Depends: node-d3-dispatch (>= 1.0.5~) but it is not going to
be installed
           Depends: node-d3-drag (>= 1.2.3~) but it is not going to be
installed
           Depends: node-d3-dsv (>= 1.1.1~) but 1.0.7-6 is to be
installed
           Depends: node-d3-ease (>= 1.0.5~) but it is not going to be
installed
           Depends: node-d3-force (>= 1.2.1~) but it is not going to be
installed
           Depends: node-d3-format (>= 1:1.2.2~) but it is not going to
be installed
           Depends: node-d3-geo (>= 1.9.1~) but it is not going to be
installed
           Depends: node-d3-hierarchy (>= 1.1.8~) but it is not going
to be installed
           Depends: node-d3-interpolate (>= 1.1.6~) but 1.1.5-2 is to
be installed
           Depends: node-d3-path (>= 1.0.7~) but it is not going to be
installed
           Depends: node-d3-polygon (>= 1.0.5~) but it is not going to
be installed
           Depends: node-d3-quadtree (>= 1.0.6~) but it is not going to
be installed
           Depends: node-d3-random (>= 1.1.2~) but it is not going to
be installed
           Depends: node-d3-scale (>= 2~) but it is not going to be
installed
           Depends: node-d3-selection (>= 1.4~) but it is not going to
be installed
           Depends: node-d3-shape (>= 1.3.5~) but it is not going to be
installed
           Depends: node-d3-time (>= 1.0.8~) but it is not going to be
installed
           Depends: node-d3-time-format (>= 2.1.1~) but it is not going
to be installed
           Depends: node-d3-timer (>= 1.0.9~) but it is not going to be
installed
           Depends: node-d3-transition (>= 1.1.1~) but it is not going
to be installed
           Depends: node-d3-voronoi (>= 1.1.4~) but it is not going to
be installed
           Depends: node-d3-zoom (>= 1.7.3~) but it is not going to be
installed
 node-dagre-layout : Depends: node-graphlibrary (>=
2.2.0+really2.1.8+dfsg~) but it is not going to be installed
 sbuild-build-depends-main-dummy : Depends: debhelper-compat (= 13)
which is a virtual package, provided by:
                                            - debhelper
(13.3.1~bpo10+1) provides debhelper-compat=13, but it is not going to
be installed
                                            - debhelper
(13.3.1~bpo10+1) provides debhelper-compat=12, but it is not going to
be installed
                                            - debhelper
(13.3.1~bpo10+1) provides debhelper-compat=11, but it is not going to
be installed
                                            - debhelper
(13.3.1~bpo10+1) provides debhelper-compat=10, but it is not going to
be installed
                                            - debhelper
(13.3.1~bpo10+1) provides debhelper-compat=9, but it is not going to be
installed
                                            - debhelper (12.1.1)
provides debhelper-compat=12, but it is not going to be installed
                                            - debhelper (12.1.1)
provides debhelper-compat=11, but it is not going to be installed
                                            - debhelper (12.1.1)
provides debhelper-compat=10, but it is not going to be installed
                                            - debhelper (12.1.1)
provides debhelper-compat=9, but it is not going to be installed

                                   Depends: dh-sequence-nodejs which is
a virtual package, provided by:
                                            - pkg-js-tools
(0.9.63~bpo10+1), but it is not going to be installed

                                   Depends: webpack (>= 4.43.0~) but it
is not going to be installed
                                   Depends: node-graphlibrary (>=
2.2.0+really2.1.8+dfsg~) but it is not going to be installed
Resolving dependencies...
Resolving dependencies...
Resolving dependencies...
Resolving dependencies...
Resolving dependencies...
Resolving dependencies...

and keep printing "Resolving dependencies..." without actually able to
resolve.

With the following command, using aspcud instead of aptitude, it works

sbuild -A -s --force-orig-source -c buster-amd64-sbuild
--extra-repository='deb http://deb.debian.org/debian buster-backports 
main' --extra-repository='deb http://incoming.debian.org/debian-buildd
buildd-buster-backports main' --build-dep-resolver=aspcud
--no-run-lintian
#985076#10
Date:
2021-03-12 16:34:44 UTC
From:
To:
Without looking into this, I want to point out that's it is perfectly
normal that a state of the art solver like aspcud is able to solve
problems that a bad solver like aptitude can't.

I can't speak for them, but I'm not sure the aptitude team has the
knowledge or capacity to work on their solver, it's a beast, and like
with apt's solver it's hard to make changes confidently without having a
huge test corpus to see what it regresses.