Hi,

I'm reopening this bug as I am still seeing
appstream-metadata-validation-failed in https://udd.debian.org/lintian/?packages=cevomapgen

I cannot see anything wrong with the metadata,
and cannot reproduce the issue locally.

No issues with the package reported here. https://appstream.debian.org/sid/main/issues/index.html


Regards,
Peter

--- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
* Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)

To: peter@pblackman.plus.com

On Monday, May 12, 2025 5:53:34 AM Mountain Standard Time Peter Blackman wrote:

Hi,

I'm reopening this bug as I am still seeing
appstream-metadata-validation-failed in https://udd.debian.org/lintian/?packages=cevomapgen

I cannot see anything wrong with the metadata,
and cannot reproduce the issue locally.

No issues with the package reported here. https://appstream.debian.org/sid/main/issues/index.html

Regards,
Peter

In my experiences, this particular error has to do with inconsistencies between the appstream metadata file name, the appstream ID name, and the desktop file name.

In my experience, the following always resolves the issue.

1. Use reverse DNS naming for the appstream metadata file appended by metainfo.xml.
2. Use reverse DNS naming for the appstream ID.
3. Use reverse DNS naming for the desktop file appended by .desktop.

For example, see privacybrowser:

1. Reverse DNS naming for the appstream metadata file: com.stoutner.privacybrowser.metainfo.xml

https://salsa.debian.org/soren/privacybrowser/-/blob/master/src/ com.stoutner.privacybrowser.metainfo.xml?ref_type=heads

2. Reverse DNS naming for the appstream ID: com.stoutner.privacybrowser

https://salsa.debian.org/soren/privacybrowser/-/blob/master/src/ com.stoutner.privacybrowser.metainfo.xml?ref_type=heads#L26

3. Reverse DNS naming for the desktop file: com.stoutner.privacybrowser.desktop

https://salsa.debian.org/soren/privacybrowser/-/blob/master/src/ com.stoutner.privacybrowser.metainfo.xml?ref_type=heads#L57

https://salsa.debian.org/soren/privacybrowser/-/blob/master/src/ com.stoutner.privacybrowser.desktop

Running validate-tree on an installed binary checks these file name relationships, whereas a normal validate only checks the contents of the metainfo.xml file itself, but not the relationship of the file names.

--
Soren Stoutner
soren@debian.org
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--- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
* Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)

This is a multi-part message in MIME format.
On 12/05/2025 17:13, Soren Stoutner wrote:

In my experiences, this particular error has to do with inconsistencies between the appstream metadata file name, the appstream ID name, and the desktop file name.

In my experience, the following always resolves the issue.

<snip>

3. Use reverse DNS naming for the desktop file appended by .desktop.

Hi Soren,

Right.
It looks possible that my failure to rDNS the .desktop name
may be the issue with the package.

What is tedious,
is that I cannot reproduce the problem locally, to check.

UDD claims a lintian warning against the package https://udd.debian.org/lintian/?packages=cevomapgen

But if I run either ..validate-tree or lintian itself
against the .deb, no errors are shown.

Salsa CI has SALSA_CI_LINTIAN_FAIL_WARNING set
but nothing shows there either. https://salsa.debian.org/PeterB/cevomapgen/-/jobs/7567926


So the lintian "bug" I'm seeing, is that when run via UDD
the result is different to when run locally or via Salsa CI.

Regards,
Peter

P.S.
attaching a little basic test script.
It takes the .deb file as a parameter.



IyEvYmluL3NoCiMgY2hlY2sgYXBwc3RyZWFtIGRhdGEgb2YgYmluYXJ5IHBhY2thZ2UKCiMg c2V0IC1lCgpURU1QRD0kKG1rdGVtcCAtZCkKCmRwa2ctZGViIC1SICQxICRURU1QRAoKYXBw c3RyZWFtY2xpIHZhbGlkYXRlIC0tcGVkYW50aWMgJFRFTVBEL3Vzci9zaGFyZS8qLyoueG1s CmVjaG8KYXBwc3RyZWFtLXV0aWwgdmFsaWRhdGUgJFRFTVBEL3Vzci9zaGFyZS8qLyoueG1s CmVjaG8KYXBwc3RyZWFtY2xpIHZhbGlkYXRlLXRyZWUgLS1uby1uZXQgJFRFTVBECmVjaG8K

--- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
* Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)

To: peter@pblackman.plus.com

On Monday, May 12, 2025 11:31:26 AM Mountain Standard Time Peter Blackman wrote:

On 12/05/2025 17:13, Soren Stoutner wrote:

In my experiences, this particular error has to do with inconsistencies between the appstream metadata file name, the appstream ID name, and the desktop file name.

In my experience, the following always resolves the issue.

<snip>

3. Use reverse DNS naming for the desktop file appended by .desktop.

Hi Soren,

Right.
It looks possible that my failure to rDNS the .desktop name
may be the issue with the package.

What is tedious,
is that I cannot reproduce the problem locally, to check.

UDD claims a lintian warning against the package https://udd.debian.org/lintian/?packages=cevomapgen

But if I run either ..validate-tree or lintian itself
against the .deb, no errors are shown.

I also don’t see any lintian tags when I run the following command with lintian from testing:

lintian -iIE --pedantic

My guess is that the factors for determining this tag have changed and that UDD is running either a newer or an older version of either lintian or "appstreamcli validate”.

In the past, when I have dealt with this error I was able to reproduce it locally with lintian. If you want to make UDD happy you could upload a version with a corrected .desktop entry (it is recommended it use reverse DNS naming anyway).

"The name of the desktop entry should follow the "reverse DNS" convention: it should start with a reversed DNS domain name controlled by the author of the application, in lower case.”

https://specifications.freedesktop.org/desktop-entry-spec/latest-single/#file-naming

Similar language also exists for the AppStream file name and ID tag.

https://www.freedesktop.org/software/appstream/docs/chap-Metadata.html

I think in the past the recommendation to use reverse DNS naming wasn’t as strong, which is why you see a lot of .desktop files that follow other patterns, especially for programs that have been around for a long time.

--
Soren Stoutner
soren@debian.org
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--- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
* Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)

On 12/05/2025 19:31, Peter Blackman wrote:

It looks possible that my failure to rDNS the .desktop name
may be the issue with the package.

Seems not to be the case. If I rDNS the .desktop name locally,
that CAUSES
appstream-metadata-validation-failed Problems reported by "appstreamcli validate-tree"

WTF!!!

What I tried adding to d/rules is
# Rename desktop file to rDNS style
execute_after_dh_auto_install:
    mv -v debian/c-evo-map-gen/usr/share/applications/cevomapgen.desktop \ debian/c-evo-map-gen/usr/share/applications/net.sourceforge.cevomapgen.desktop

--- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
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On 12/05/2025 20:27, Soren Stoutner wrote:

You need to both rename the file and edit the name it is looking for in the metainfo.xml here:

Of course!!

Forgot that bit. Will try again tomorrow.

Thanks,
Peter

--- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
* Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)

To: peter@pblackman.plus.com

On Monday, May 12, 2025 12:03:26 PM Mountain Standard Time Peter Blackman wrote:

On 12/05/2025 19:31, Peter Blackman wrote:

It looks possible that my failure to rDNS the .desktop name
may be the issue with the package.

Seems not to be the case. If I rDNS the .desktop name locally,
that CAUSES
appstream-metadata-validation-failed Problems reported by "appstreamcli validate-tree"

WTF!!!

What I tried adding to d/rules is
# Rename desktop file to rDNS style
execute_after_dh_auto_install:
mv -v debian/c-evo-map-gen/usr/share/applications/cevomapgen.desktop \ debian/c-evo-map-gen/usr/share/applications/

net.sourceforge.cevomapgen.desktop

You need to both rename the file and edit the name it is looking for in the metainfo.xml here:

https://salsa.debian.org/PeterB/cevomapgen/-/blob/master/ net.sourceforge.cevomapgen.metainfo.xml?ref_type=heads#L11

When I have done this I have usually submitted an upstream patch to implement it on their end, which usually, but not always, is accepted with appreciation.

--
Soren Stoutner
soren@debian.org
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--- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
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On 12/05/2025 20:06, Soren Stoutner wrote:

I also don’t see any lintian tags when I run the following command with lintian from testing:

lintian -iIE --pedantic

My guess is that the factors for determining this tag have changed and that UDD is running either a newer or an older version of either lintian or "appstreamcli validate”.

This remains a mystery. Lintian version 2.122.0 is used throughout.
I tried installing older versions of appstream and its library,
but still could not reproduce the problem locally.

"The name of the desktop entry should follow the "reverse DNS" convention: it should start with a reversed DNS domain name controlled by the author of the application, in lower case.”

https://specifications.freedesktop.org/desktop-entry-spec/latest-single/#file-naming

Notwithstanding that I can't reproduce the problem, I agree this seems
highly likely to be the issue. I'll attempt a fix on the next upload.

I think in the past the recommendation to use reverse DNS naming wasn’t as strong, which is why you see a lot of .desktop files that follow other patterns, especially for programs that have been around for a long time.

That seems to explain why over 600 reports of this tag! https://udd.debian.org/lintian-tag/appstream-metadata-validation-failed?affected=yes

Thanks for helping,
Peter

--- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
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