* Holger gave a talk about diffoscope at the [mirage.io hack retreat](https://retreat.mirage.io) which resulted in three bugs being filed against diffoscope:
- #910540 backtrace when using diffoscope on macOS (brew)
- immediatly fixed by Chris.
- #910541 diffoscope] diffoscope: filing bugs on diffoscope is cumbersome for non-Debian contributors
- #910542 better support for OCaml object files via ocamlobjinfo
Here's what happened in the [Reproducible Builds](https://reproducible-builds.org) effort between Sunday October 7 and Saturday October 13 2018:
* Holger gave a talk about [diffoscope](https://diffoscope.org/) at the [MirageOS](https://mirage.io/)[hacker retreat](https://retreat.mirage.io). This resulted in three bugs being filed ([#910540](https://bugs.debian.org/910540)(*backtrace when using diffoscope on MacOS*, [#910542](https://bugs.debian.org/910542) (*Please add better support for OCaml object files*), & [#910541](https://bugs.debian.org/910541) (*Filing bugs on diffoscope is cumbersome for non-Debian contributors*).
* In the upcoming week, Chris Lamb will be attending [New York University](https://www.nyu.edu/) to work with students from the *Application Security* course on the topic of reproducible builds.
* Richard Purdie reported that the [Yocto Project](https://www.yoctoproject.org/) now offers [reproducible builds for arbitrary paths and build users](https://lists.reproducible-builds.org/pipermail/rb-general/2018-October/001203.html). This is only tested with `core-image-sato`, an [X-based](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/X_Window_System) graphical image but means the core system components are reproducible, providing a solid base that further improvements can be made from.
*[Mes](https://gitlab.com/janneke/mes)(a Scheme-based compiler for our "sister" [bootstrappable builds](http://bootstrappable.org) effort) [announced their 0.18 release](http://lists.gnu.org/archive/html/info-gnu/2018-10/msg00000.html).
* Mattia Rizzolo updated the [Contribute](https://reproducible-builds.org/contribute/) section on [our website](https://reproducible-builds.org/), removing some references from the now-deprecated [Alioth](https://wiki.debian.org/Alioth) Debian service. He also [added a handy link to file a new bug report](https://salsa.debian.org/reproducible-builds/diffoscope-website/commit/d1859e5) on the [diffoscope.org](https://diffoscope.org/) website.
* disorderfs (our [FUSE](https://github.com/libfuse/libfuse)-based filesystem that deliberately introduces non-determinism into filesystem metadata) version `0.5.4-2` was [uploaded to Debian unstable](https://tracker.debian.org/news/995207/accepted-disorderfs-054-2-source-into-unstable/) by Holger Levsen. It [included contributions already covered in previous weeks](https://salsa.debian.org/reproducible-builds/disorderfs/commits/debian/0.5.4-2) but also include some fixes to the the `debian/watch` file ([1](https://salsa.debian.org/reproducible-builds/disorderfs/commit/494a411), [2](https://salsa.debian.org/reproducible-builds/disorderfs/commit/e099a4e) & [3](https://salsa.debian.org/reproducible-builds/disorderfs/commit/4c803a4)) and was migrated to [use the new `debhelper-compat (= 11)`](https://salsa.debian.org/reproducible-builds/disorderfs/commit/9c648d3) notation.
* Chris Lamb reviewed 25 Debian packages and 28 were removed in this week, adding to [our knowledge about identified issues](https://tests.reproducible-builds.org/debian/index_issues.html).Chris also added a new [`timestamps_in_episode_files_generated_by_jxc`](https://salsa.debian.org/reproducible-builds/reproducible-notes/commit/0eab9dbe) toolchain issue and [expanded the comments](https://salsa.debian.org/reproducible-builds/reproducible-notes/commit/92bdc5bb) for [`translations_missing_in_desktop_files`](https://tests.reproducible-builds.org/debian/issues/unstable/translations_missing_in_desktop_files_issue.html).
* strip-nondeterminism version `0.043-2` was [uploaded to Debian unstable](https://tracker.debian.org/news/995203/accepted-strip-nondeterminism-0043-2-source-into-unstable/) by Mattia Rizzolo. It [included contributions already covered in previous weeks](https://salsa.debian.org/reproducible-builds/strip-nondeterminism/commits/debian/0.043-2) as well [using the new `debhelper-compat (= 11)` notation](https://salsa.debian.org/reproducible-builds/strip-nondeterminism/commit/deba9e1) and [fixing the `debian/watch` file](https://salsa.debian.org/reproducible-builds/strip-nondeterminism/commit/8c7200b)after moving from the now-deprecated [Alioth](https://wiki.debian.org/Alioth) Debian infrastructure.
Another brief reminder that another Reproducible Builds summit will be taking place between 11th—13th December 2018 in [Mozilla](https://wiki.mozilla.org/Paris)'s offices in Paris. If you are interested in attending please send an email to `holger@layer-acht.org`. More details can also be found on the [corresponding event page](https://reproducible-builds.org/events/paris2018/) of our website.
diffoscope development
----------------------
[diffoscope](https://diffoscope.org/) is our in-depth "diff-on-steroids" utility which helps us diagnose reproducibility issues in packages) was updated this week, including contributions from:
* Chris Lamb:
*[Use `str.startswith(...)` over `str.index(...) == 0` in the Macho comparator to prevent tracebacks if text cannot be found on the line](https://salsa.debian.org/reproducible-builds/diffoscope/commit/56f8215). ([#910540](https://bugs.debian.org/910540)).
* Marek Marczykowski-Górecki:
*[Handle FAT filesystems with the `fsimage` comparator](https://salsa.debian.org/reproducible-builds/diffoscope/commit/da3b97a).
*[Add a test for FAT `fsimage` comparator](https://salsa.debian.org/reproducible-builds/diffoscope/commit/575f99b).
* Mattia Rizzolo:
* Adjust some build dependencies: Add [`linux-image-amd64 [amd64]` to allow the SquashFS tests to run](https://salsa.debian.org/reproducible-builds/diffoscope/commit/225a30b) and [`linux-image-generic`](https://salsa.debian.org/reproducible-builds/diffoscope/commit/b90bd2f).
* Adjust "autopkgtest" dependencies: Add [`linux-image-amd64`](https://salsa.debian.org/reproducible-builds/diffoscope/commit/c6d2511) as well as [the optional Python modules](https://salsa.debian.org/reproducible-builds/diffoscope/commit/71eb7e3).
*[Move the list of optional Python packages to `setup.py` and have `dh_python3` check the generated `requires.txt](https://salsa.debian.org/reproducible-builds/diffoscope/commit/1e109bc).
*[Add a `Build-Conflicts` against `graphicsmagick-imagemagick-compat`](https://salsa.debian.org/reproducible-builds/diffoscope/commit/dc3634e).
*[Temporarily drop `{Build,Test}-Depends` for `apktool` and `oggvideotools`; they are not available in `buster` at the moment](https://salsa.debian.org/reproducible-builds/diffoscope/commit/018b7ae).
*[Rename `procyon-decompiler` to `procyon`](https://salsa.debian.org/reproducible-builds/diffoscope/commit/d7ec996),
* Richard Purdie [reported on our mailinglist](https://lists.reproducible-builds.org/pipermail/rb-general/2018-October/001203.html)
that the Yocto Project now has reproducible builds for arbitrary paths and
build users. This is only tested with our core-image-sato level which is an
X based graphical image but means our core system components are reproducible
and means there is a solid base further improvements can be made from.
*[#910490](https://bugs.debian.org/910490) filed against [libhandy](https://tracker.debian.org/pkg/libhandy).
*[#910655](https://bugs.debian.org/910655) filed against [fast5](https://tracker.debian.org/pkg/fast5).
*[#910752](https://bugs.debian.org/910752) filed against [syndie](https://tracker.debian.org/pkg/syndie).
*[#910789](https://bugs.debian.org/910789) filed against [opari2](https://tracker.debian.org/pkg/opari2).
Test framework development
--------------------------
There were a large number of updates to our [Jenkins](https://jenkins.io/)-based testing framework that powers [tests.reproducible-builds.org](tests.reproducible-builds.org) by Holger Levsen this month, including:
*[Temporarily disable building with `build2` and `build` as the jenkins user](https://salsa.debian.org/qa/jenkins.debian.net/commit/e76b96c6). This was an attempt to diagnose a path-variation issue.
*[Also call `printenv` before the builds to diagnose path issue](https://salsa.debian.org/qa/jenkins.debian.net/commit/bed37f55).
*[Increase timeout for running `diffoscope` to one hour](https://salsa.debian.org/qa/jenkins.debian.net/commit/628e4da5).
*[Set PATH to match `makechrootpkg`](https://salsa.debian.org/qa/jenkins.debian.net/commit/8d2d1b29).
*[Trap "exit" so we end the `schroot` sessions on failures](https://salsa.debian.org/qa/jenkins.debian.net/commit/43fa8d16).
*[Include the number of recent builds on the `recent_builds.html` page](https://salsa.debian.org/qa/jenkins.debian.net/commit/c30aaa7e).
*[Drop an unused variable](https://salsa.debian.org/qa/jenkins.debian.net/commit/53ab78ff).
* Re-add [8 `i386` builders](https://salsa.debian.org/qa/jenkins.debian.net/commit/af220237) and [8 `arm64` builders](https://salsa.debian.org/qa/jenkins.debian.net/commit/0cb66d2b) as they are not using all the memory they have available to them.
* Misc/generic changes:
* Add a new [job health page](https://jenkins.debian.net/userContent/jenkins_job_health.html) ([1](https://salsa.debian.org/qa/jenkins.debian.net/commit/e41356e1), [2](https://salsa.debian.org/qa/jenkins.debian.net/commit/004ab3c3), [3](https://salsa.debian.org/qa/jenkins.debian.net/commit/7640a773), [4](https://salsa.debian.org/qa/jenkins.debian.net/commit/7836b079), etc.)
* [Warn on files greater than 8G in `/var/log` and fail maintenance job if files greater than 32G are found](https://salsa.debian.org/qa/jenkins.debian.net/commit/ec09e960).
* [Add health-check and maintenance jobs for the `pb10` node](https://salsa.debian.org/qa/jenkins.debian.net/commit/2716e823).
* [Only check for outdated running kernels once per day; the maintenance job also checks this](https://salsa.debian.org/qa/jenkins.debian.net/commit/4d6b2a77).
* [Fix path to `/var/spool/squid/` for compatibility with `stretch`](https://salsa.debian.org/qa/jenkins.debian.net/commit/a492bd5b).
* Perform some node maintenance. ([1](https://salsa.debian.org/qa/jenkins.debian.net/commit/1332da65), [2](https://salsa.debian.org/qa/jenkins.debian.net/commit/9993e59c), [3](https://salsa.debian.org/qa/jenkins.debian.net/commit/bd143021), etc.).
In addition, Mattia Rizzolo performed some node administration ([1](https://salsa.debian.org/qa/jenkins.debian.net/commit/c8731d91), [2](https://salsa.debian.org/qa/jenkins.debian.net/commit/daeeb033)).
Misc.
-----
This week's edition was written by Bernhard M. Wiedemann, Chris Lamb, Holger Levsen & reviewed by a bunch of Reproducible Builds folks on IRC & the mailing lists.
