Adding a file in a quilt/dquilt patch: patch applies correctly by hand, but breaks debuild

Question

I am trying to add a patch to a Debian package (on an amd64 machine running Ubuntu 14.10 "Trusty").

While troubleshooting the issue, I've reduced the patch to one that adds a single file. (For the sake of context, this file modifies a fluxbox package so that it also creates a fluxbox-dbg file with debugging symbols.)

I created the patch by following these steps:

• (Made sure I had all existing patches applied.)
• quilt new add-dbg-package.patch
• quilt add debian/rules.d/70-debug-symbols.mk
• (Created that file with the contents I wanted.)
• quilt refresh

The patch seems fine:

• With all patches applied, the file exists and has the correct contents.
• The patch contains a delta that adds the complete contents of the file, and nothing else.
• No other patch references the file.
• When I pop the new patch, the file is removed; when I push it again, it is recreated.

However, when I try to rebuild the package with debuild, I get this:

The next patch would create the file debian/rules.d/70-debug-symbols.mk, which already exists!  Skipping patch.
1 out of 1 hunk ignored
dpkg-source: info: the patch has fuzz which is not allowed, or is malformed
dpkg-source: info: if patch 'add-dbg-package.patch' is correctly applied by quilt, use 'quilt refresh' to update it

If I take its advice, quilt tells me that the patch is up-to-date (as it seems to be). quilt diff tells me that there are no changes.

As one thought: is it incorrect to add quilt patches for changes to Debian control files?

Can anyone help me understand what I've done to offend debuild?

Answer 1

You should not add quilt patches over /debian/ files. The patches are for the code only. Just change the debian/rules.d/70-debug-symbols.mk file and build the package.

The Debian/Ubuntu policy says:

The program quilt offers a basic method for recording modifications to the *upstream source* for Debian packaging.