Upload to Debian Feed fails with "Package does not have a control file."

[frei_zs]

Hey team,

I'm having issues uploading a specific Debian package to ProGet:

Although the package is quite simple and contains a control file, proget says it does not.

└── pkg
├── DEBIAN
│   ├── control
│   └── md5sums
└── usr
├── bin
│   └── connecTI-Key
└── share
├── applications
│   └── connecTI-Key.desktop
└── icons
└── hicolor
├── 128x128
│   └── apps
│   └── connecTI-Key.png
├── 256x256@2
│   └── apps
│   └── connecTI-Key.png
└── 32x32
└── apps
└── connecTI-Key.png

Manual installation per apt works fine.

Unpacking it with dpkg-deb -R and repacking dpkg-deb -b seems to fix it?
I afterwards was able to upload it. It is a third party package, how can I find out why the originally provided version is not accepted?

Many thanks,
Frank

[stevedennis]

Hi @frei_zs,

Based on the fact that unpackaging/repackaging it works, there's definitely something "wrong" with the original package file.

Debian uses a tarfile format, and there are several "buggy" tarfile writers that don't get the format quite write. If I remember correctly, some ancient versions of dpkg wrote these files incorrectly. Some tarfile readers account for these errors while others (perhaps including ours) do not.

We may be able to attach the file to a debugger and give more details, but if this is a one-off or rare circumstance, than I would just repackage it and not worry about it.

Thanks,
Steve

[frei_zs]

Hey Steve,

thank you very much. That sounds like a valid explanation. Let me try to work this out with the third party then and see if I can get them to look into their build process.

I thought about repackaging and looked into the ar parts too, but since this then needs to be done for every version coming out, I would rather not be an additional step in between and have it working out of the box. ;)

Many thanks,
Frank