From Newsgroup: comp.sys.raspberry-pi

On Sun, 18 Jan 2026 15:46:03 -0000 (UTC) Markus Robert Kessler wrote:

On 16 Jan 2026 11:57:08 +1000 Computer Nerd Kev wrote:

Markus Robert Kessler <no_reply@dipl-ing-kessler.de> wrote:

On 16 Jan 2026 08:19:25 +1000 Computer Nerd Kev wrote:

Markus Robert Kessler <no_reply@dipl-ing-kessler.de> wrote:

So, except "tcp_wrappers", the package seems to be builable?

Yep, and tcp_wrappers looks to be optional, so you can probably
ignore that:

"The tcp-wrappers statements provides an alternative way to control
accesses to the resources served by GNU Mailutils. This statement is
enabled if Mailutils is compiled with TCP wrappers library libwrap."
https://www.mailutils.org/manual/html_node/tcp_002dwrappers-

statement.html

OK, thanks. I see that lib64wrap-devel and libwrap-devel are there. Do
you think it is sufficient to just install one of them as dependency?

Probably the lib64 one. The configure script shows the features enabled
like I posted before. So if it's found tcp_wrappers/libwrap then you'll
get the same as me:

"Use TCP wrappers .............. yes"

If not:

"Use TCP wrappers .............. no"

Either way I expect it'll do everything you need, since I think it's
just for the IMAP and POP servers that are also part of Mailutils.

Hi there,

after a 'make install' to some DESTDIR, I took the created 'usr' dir,
chown-ed everything to root:root and verified that the rights are correct.

Then I created a tar.gz archive out of this 'usr' dir.

From this I took alien to convert to rpm:
alien --target=`arch` -r gnu-mailutils-3.21.tar.gz


All worked, but when trying to install the rpm I get

[1040 root@mga9x64-lb1 /tmp]# rpm -i gnu-mailutils-3.21-2.x86_64.rpm
error: Failed dependencies:
devel(libgnutls(64bit)) is needed by gnu-mailutils-3.21-2.x86_64
devel(libgsasl(64bit)) is needed by gnu-mailutils-3.21-2.x86_64
devel(libltdl(64bit)) is needed by gnu-mailutils-3.21-2.x86_64
libgsasl.so.7()(64bit) is needed by gnu-mailutils-3.21-2.x86_64
libgsasl.so.7(LIBGSASL_1.1)(64bit) is needed by gnu- mailutils-3.21-2.x86_64


This is strange because './configure' said

*******************************************************************
GNU Mailutils configured with the following settings:

Default mailbox scheme ........ mbox
Use PAM ....................... no
Use -ltdl ..................... yes
Use DBM ....................... no
Use GNU TLS ................... yes
Use GSASL ..................... yes
Use GSSAPI .................... yes
Use TCP wrappers .............. yes
Pthread support ............... yes
Readline support .............. yes
Libunistring support .......... yes
MySQL support ................. no
PostgreSQL support ............ no
LDAP support .................. no
Radius support ................ no
Support for virtual domains ... yes

IPv6 support .................. yes

Interfaces:

Guile ......................... no
C++ ........................... no
Python ........................ yes

Mailbox formats:

IMAP .......................... yes
POP ........................... yes
MH ............................ yes
maildir ....................... yes
dotmail ....................... yes

Mailers:

SMTP .......................... yes
Sendmail ...................... yes

Utilities to build:

Servers ....................... pop3d imap4d comsat mda lmtpd
Clients ....................... putmail frm mail sieve messages readmsg dotlock movemail mimeview decodemail mh

*******************************************************************

The 3 devel-s withing the 'rpm -i' error alert were installed as devel,
and the 2 gsasl-s, not sure, but maybe they are runtime requirements.

Any idea what's still missing here?

Thank you!
--- Synchronet 3.21b-Linux NewsLink 1.2

From Newsgroup: comp.sys.raspberry-pi

On Sun, 18 Jan 2026 16:06:48 +0000 Richard Kettlewell wrote:

Markus Robert Kessler <no_reply@dipl-ing-kessler.de> writes:

Wrappers (64bit) is ok, and all services like pop and imap are
building.
Somehow strange, that it complains about 'C++:no', though gcc is there.

You have probably installed gcc but not g++.

On Raspbian there is a package 'g++' to cover the c++ things.

While, on Mageia I cannot find such package. Instead there is 'gcc-c++',
which claims 'This package adds C++ support to the GNU C compiler'.
I have installed 'gcc-c++', so, maybe GNU-mailutil's './configure' is
being confused here?

Thank you!
--- Synchronet 3.21b-Linux NewsLink 1.2

From Newsgroup: comp.sys.raspberry-pi

Markus Robert Kessler <no_reply@dipl-ing-kessler.de> writes:

On Sun, 18 Jan 2026 16:06:48 +0000 Richard Kettlewell wrote:

Markus Robert Kessler <no_reply@dipl-ing-kessler.de> writes:

Wrappers (64bit) is ok, and all services like pop and imap are
building.
Somehow strange, that it complains about 'C++:no', though gcc is there.

You have probably installed gcc but not g++.

On Raspbian there is a package 'g++' to cover the c++ things.

While, on Mageia I cannot find such package. Instead there is 'gcc-c++', which claims 'This package adds C++ support to the GNU C compiler'.
I have installed 'gcc-c++', so, maybe GNU-mailutil's './configure' is
being confused here?

On a closer look it looks like that bit of output depends on whether you
use an --enable-cxx option. I’ve no idea what it’s for but unless it corresponds to something you know you want, I’d ignore it.
--
https://www.greenend.org.uk/rjk/
--- Synchronet 3.21b-Linux NewsLink 1.2

From Newsgroup: comp.sys.raspberry-pi

Markus Robert Kessler <no_reply@dipl-ing-kessler.de> wrote:

after a 'make install' to some DESTDIR, I took the created 'usr' dir, chown-ed everything to root:root and verified that the rights are correct.

Then I created a tar.gz archive out of this 'usr' dir.

From this I took alien to convert to rpm:
alien --target=`arch` -r gnu-mailutils-3.21.tar.gz

All worked, but when trying to install the rpm I get

[1040 root@mga9x64-lb1 /tmp]# rpm -i gnu-mailutils-3.21-2.x86_64.rpm
error: Failed dependencies:
devel(libgnutls(64bit)) is needed by gnu-mailutils-3.21-2.x86_64
devel(libgsasl(64bit)) is needed by gnu-mailutils-3.21-2.x86_64
devel(libltdl(64bit)) is needed by gnu-mailutils-3.21-2.x86_64
libgsasl.so.7()(64bit) is needed by gnu-mailutils-3.21-2.x86_64
libgsasl.so.7(LIBGSASL_1.1)(64bit) is needed by gnu- mailutils-3.21-2.x86_64

x86_64? This is in the Raspberry Pi Group. Did you pick the wrong
newsgroup to discuss this or are you trying to complile on a PC
but run Mailutils on a RPi? That's possible, but difficult, and
for this you'd be much better compiling Mailutils on the RPi
instead.

This is strange because './configure' said

The configure script worked if you got the mailutils binaries
built, which it sounds like you did (otherwise DESTDIR will be
empty). I've never used "alien" and don't know how it goes about
making packages, but it looks like something must be going wrong
there. If you're trying to install to RPi (ARM) a package built
for x86_64, then that's definitely what's going wrong.
--
__ __
#_ < |\| |< _#
--- Synchronet 3.21b-Linux NewsLink 1.2

From Newsgroup: comp.sys.raspberry-pi

On Sun, 18 Jan 2026 18:44:37 -0000 (UTC), Markus Robert Kessler wrote:

From this I took alien to convert to rpm:

That seems a very roundabout process. On Debian, after doing “apt-get source” to get the package source and making the desired changes,
rebuilding the .deb file is as easy as using the “debuild” command.

Is there not something directly equivalent for your rpm-based distro?

--- Synchronet 3.21b-Linux NewsLink 1.2

From Newsgroup: comp.sys.raspberry-pi

On 19 Jan 2026 07:23:39 +1000 Computer Nerd Kev wrote:

Markus Robert Kessler <no_reply@dipl-ing-kessler.de> wrote:

after a 'make install' to some DESTDIR, I took the created 'usr' dir,
chown-ed everything to root:root and verified that the rights are
correct.

Then I created a tar.gz archive out of this 'usr' dir.

From this I took alien to convert to rpm:
alien --target=`arch` -r gnu-mailutils-3.21.tar.gz


All worked, but when trying to install the rpm I get

[1040 root@mga9x64-lb1 /tmp]# rpm -i gnu-mailutils-3.21-2.x86_64.rpm
error: Failed dependencies:
devel(libgnutls(64bit)) is needed by
gnu-mailutils-3.21-2.x86_64 devel(libgsasl(64bit)) is needed by
gnu-mailutils-3.21-2.x86_64 devel(libltdl(64bit)) is needed by
gnu-mailutils-3.21-2.x86_64 libgsasl.so.7()(64bit) is needed by
gnu-mailutils-3.21-2.x86_64 libgsasl.so.7(LIBGSASL_1.1)(64bit)
is needed by gnu-
mailutils-3.21-2.x86_64

x86_64? This is in the Raspberry Pi Group. Did you pick the wrong
newsgroup to discuss this or are you trying to complile on a PC but run Mailutils on a RPi? That's possible, but difficult, and for this you'd
be much better compiling Mailutils on the RPi instead.

This is strange because './configure' said

The configure script worked if you got the mailutils binaries built,
which it sounds like you did (otherwise DESTDIR will be empty). I've
never used "alien" and don't know how it goes about making packages, but
it looks like something must be going wrong there. If you're trying to install to RPi (ARM) a package built for x86_64, then that's definitely what's going wrong.

Hello, thanks! And, no, I did not click onto the wrong group.
Instead, the desperate situation is like that:

On latest raspbian, debian for ARM, there is only an ancient version 3.10. Good to play with, but that's all.

On debian for intel, there is version 3.20 - but it is not complete.
imap4d and pop3d are missing and other stuff. Just left away.

On Redhat / Mageia for intel, which I am also running, there is even no
such package like GNU mailutils at all.

So, no big difference, in which group to ask. No 'one group for all'.
Whatever you want to achieve, you have to try yourself.

__But, as far as I see, here are the experts.__

So, I take this chance to say thank you for all the hints I already got.


Besides this:

Looking at the 'Failed dependencies' message above, this looks as if the
devel packages have to be linked statically, otherwise movemail and others cannot access them and are asking for them again.
Do you dispose this to be so?

Thank you!

Best regards,

Markus
--
Please reply to group only.
For private email please use http://www.dipl-ing-kessler.de/email.htm
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From Newsgroup: comp.sys.raspberry-pi

On Mon, 19 Jan 2026 16:19:41 -0000 (UTC), Markus Robert Kessler wrote:

On debian for intel, there is version 3.20 - but it is not complete.
imap4d and pop3d are missing and other stuff. Just left away.

IMAP and POP support is in separate packages -- typical Debian
philosophy, you install just the ones you need:

$ apt-cache search -n mailutils
libmailutils-dev - development files for GNU mailutils
libmailutils9t64 - GNU Mail abstraction library
mailutils - GNU mailutils utilities for handling mail
mailutils-common - common files for GNU mailutils
mailutils-comsatd - GNU mailutils-based comsatd daemon
mailutils-doc - documentation files for GNU mailutils
mailutils-guile - GNU mailutils Guile interpreter and modules
mailutils-imap4d - GNU mailutils-based IMAP4 Daemon
mailutils-mda - GNU mailutils utilities for handling mail -- MDA
mailutils-mh - GNU mailutils-based MH utilities
mailutils-pop3d - GNU mailutils-based POP3 Daemon
python3-mailutils - GNU Mail abstraction library (Python3 interface)
--- Synchronet 3.21b-Linux NewsLink 1.2

From Newsgroup: comp.sys.raspberry-pi

Markus Robert Kessler <no_reply@dipl-ing-kessler.de> wrote:

On 19 Jan 2026 07:23:39 +1000 Computer Nerd Kev wrote:

Markus Robert Kessler <no_reply@dipl-ing-kessler.de> wrote:

[1040 root@mga9x64-lb1 /tmp]# rpm -i gnu-mailutils-3.21-2.x86_64.rpm
error: Failed dependencies:
devel(libgnutls(64bit)) is needed by
gnu-mailutils-3.21-2.x86_64 devel(libgsasl(64bit)) is needed by
gnu-mailutils-3.21-2.x86_64 devel(libltdl(64bit)) is needed by
gnu-mailutils-3.21-2.x86_64 libgsasl.so.7()(64bit) is needed by
gnu-mailutils-3.21-2.x86_64 libgsasl.so.7(LIBGSASL_1.1)(64bit)
is needed by gnu-
mailutils-3.21-2.x86_64

x86_64? This is in the Raspberry Pi Group. Did you pick the wrong
newsgroup to discuss this or are you trying to complile on a PC but run
Mailutils on a RPi? That's possible, but difficult, and for this you'd
be much better compiling Mailutils on the RPi instead.

This is strange because './configure' said

The configure script worked if you got the mailutils binaries built,
which it sounds like you did (otherwise DESTDIR will be empty). I've
never used "alien" and don't know how it goes about making packages, but
it looks like something must be going wrong there. If you're trying to
install to RPi (ARM) a package built for x86_64, then that's definitely
what's going wrong.

Hello, thanks! And, no, I did not click onto the wrong group.
Instead, the desperate situation is like that:

On latest raspbian, debian for ARM, there is only an ancient version 3.10. Good to play with, but that's all.

On debian for intel, there is version 3.20 - but it is not complete.
imap4d and pop3d are missing and other stuff. Just left away.

On Redhat / Mageia for intel, which I am also running, there is even no
such package like GNU mailutils at all.

Just note that nothing you do "on intel" will just work on ARM. If
you want Mailutils on both ARM and "intel", you need to build it
twice. If you just want it on one ARM system, then repeat
everything on the ARM system and just do "sudo make install"
without the DESTDIR and package stuff which only matters if you
want to install easily to other RPis (and even then I'd personally
just make a tarball and unpack that to "/" after installing the
dependencies manually, rather than making an RPM package).

Besides this:

Looking at the 'Failed dependencies' message above, this looks as if the devel packages have to be linked statically, otherwise movemail and others cannot access them and are asking for them again.

Static linking should avoid any dependency problem when it's built
on ARM. Building on x86_64 "intel", nothing will work on ARM unless
you install and use a cross-compiling environment. But don't do
that unless you're desperate for a challenge, just build on ARM in
the first place, since any RPi is capable of compiling Mailutils.

If you want the same build to run on Debian and "Redhat / Mageia",
then static linking can achieve that more reliably. Note that it
will prevent security updates to gnutls being applied when running
Mailutils with encrypted connections, until you rebuild the static
binary. You should be able to use the Debian x86_64 Mailutils
packages at least, so you probably don't need to try running the
Mageia build on there. Just compile and install Mailutils normally
on "Redhat / Mageia for intel" and "debian for ARM" as two separate
processes.
--
__ __
#_ < |\| |< _#
--- Synchronet 3.21b-Linux NewsLink 1.2

From Newsgroup: comp.sys.raspberry-pi

Markus Robert Kessler <no_reply@dipl-ing-kessler.de> writes:

On 19 Jan 2026 07:23:39 +1000 Computer Nerd Kev wrote:

Markus Robert Kessler <no_reply@dipl-ing-kessler.de> wrote:

after a 'make install' to some DESTDIR, I took the created 'usr' dir,
chown-ed everything to root:root and verified that the rights are
correct.

Then I created a tar.gz archive out of this 'usr' dir.

From this I took alien to convert to rpm:
alien --target=`arch` -r gnu-mailutils-3.21.tar.gz


All worked, but when trying to install the rpm I get

[1040 root@mga9x64-lb1 /tmp]# rpm -i gnu-mailutils-3.21-2.x86_64.rpm
error: Failed dependencies:
devel(libgnutls(64bit)) is needed by
gnu-mailutils-3.21-2.x86_64 devel(libgsasl(64bit)) is needed by
gnu-mailutils-3.21-2.x86_64 devel(libltdl(64bit)) is needed by
gnu-mailutils-3.21-2.x86_64 libgsasl.so.7()(64bit) is needed by
gnu-mailutils-3.21-2.x86_64 libgsasl.so.7(LIBGSASL_1.1)(64bit)
is needed by gnu-
mailutils-3.21-2.x86_64

[...]

Looking at the 'Failed dependencies' message above, this looks as if
the devel packages have to be linked statically, otherwise movemail
and others cannot access them and are asking for them again. Do you
dispose this to be so?

I don’t know RPM well but for most packaging systems, if it says you’re missing a dependency then it just means you need to install the package containing that dependency.

Certainly within Debian the norm is for executables to be dynamically
linked and the package containing then to have a dependency on the
runtime packages for each shared library. Static executables are rare at
best.

In your case, I thought you were trying to do a local build and install.
So I don’t see why RPM is involved at all.
--
https://www.greenend.org.uk/rjk/
--- Synchronet 3.21b-Linux NewsLink 1.2

From Newsgroup: comp.sys.raspberry-pi

On Tue, 20 Jan 2026 08:47:29 +0000 Richard Kettlewell wrote:

Markus Robert Kessler <no_reply@dipl-ing-kessler.de> writes:

On 19 Jan 2026 07:23:39 +1000 Computer Nerd Kev wrote:

Markus Robert Kessler <no_reply@dipl-ing-kessler.de> wrote:

after a 'make install' to some DESTDIR, I took the created 'usr' dir,
chown-ed everything to root:root and verified that the rights are
correct.

Then I created a tar.gz archive out of this 'usr' dir.

From this I took alien to convert to rpm:
alien --target=`arch` -r gnu-mailutils-3.21.tar.gz


All worked, but when trying to install the rpm I get

[1040 root@mga9x64-lb1 /tmp]# rpm -i gnu-mailutils-3.21-2.x86_64.rpm
error: Failed dependencies:
devel(libgnutls(64bit)) is needed by
gnu-mailutils-3.21-2.x86_64 devel(libgsasl(64bit)) is needed
by gnu-mailutils-3.21-2.x86_64 devel(libltdl(64bit)) is
needed by gnu-mailutils-3.21-2.x86_64 libgsasl.so.7()(64bit)
is needed by gnu-mailutils-3.21-2.x86_64
libgsasl.so.7(LIBGSASL_1.1)(64bit) is needed by gnu-
mailutils-3.21-2.x86_64

[...]

Looking at the 'Failed dependencies' message above, this looks as if
the devel packages have to be linked statically, otherwise movemail and
others cannot access them and are asking for them again. Do you
dispose this to be so?

I don’t know RPM well but for most packaging systems, if it says you’re missing a dependency then it just means you need to install the package containing that dependency.

Certainly within Debian the norm is for executables to be dynamically
linked and the package containing then to have a dependency on the
runtime packages for each shared library. Static executables are rare at best.

In your case, I thought you were trying to do a local build and install.
So I don’t see why RPM is involved at all.

By exporting to some DESTDIR, then create a tar.gz / slackware install archive, and then convert this into a deb or rpm with the help of alien conversion tool, you have full control over the location of the files
(derived from make install), and this guarantees that nothing is
overwritten by accident. Also, every install is tracked.

Meaning, same as make install directly, but with full control over it
--
Please reply to group only.
For private email please use http://www.dipl-ing-kessler.de/email.htm
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From Newsgroup: comp.sys.raspberry-pi

On 20 Jan 2026 07:41:06 +1000 Computer Nerd Kev wrote:

Markus Robert Kessler <no_reply@dipl-ing-kessler.de> wrote:

On 19 Jan 2026 07:23:39 +1000 Computer Nerd Kev wrote:

Markus Robert Kessler <no_reply@dipl-ing-kessler.de> wrote:

[1040 root@mga9x64-lb1 /tmp]# rpm -i gnu-mailutils-3.21-2.x86_64.rpm
error: Failed dependencies:
devel(libgnutls(64bit)) is needed by
gnu-mailutils-3.21-2.x86_64 devel(libgsasl(64bit)) is needed
by gnu-mailutils-3.21-2.x86_64 devel(libltdl(64bit)) is
needed by gnu-mailutils-3.21-2.x86_64 libgsasl.so.7()(64bit)
is needed by gnu-mailutils-3.21-2.x86_64
libgsasl.so.7(LIBGSASL_1.1)(64bit) is needed by gnu-
mailutils-3.21-2.x86_64

x86_64? This is in the Raspberry Pi Group. Did you pick the wrong
newsgroup to discuss this or are you trying to complile on a PC but
run Mailutils on a RPi? That's possible, but difficult, and for this
you'd be much better compiling Mailutils on the RPi instead.

This is strange because './configure' said

The configure script worked if you got the mailutils binaries built,
which it sounds like you did (otherwise DESTDIR will be empty). I've
never used "alien" and don't know how it goes about making packages,
but it looks like something must be going wrong there. If you're
trying to install to RPi (ARM) a package built for x86_64, then that's
definitely what's going wrong.

Hello, thanks! And, no, I did not click onto the wrong group.
Instead, the desperate situation is like that:

On latest raspbian, debian for ARM, there is only an ancient version
3.10.
Good to play with, but that's all.

On debian for intel, there is version 3.20 - but it is not complete.
imap4d and pop3d are missing and other stuff. Just left away.

On Redhat / Mageia for intel, which I am also running, there is even no
such package like GNU mailutils at all.

Just note that nothing you do "on intel" will just work on ARM. If you
want Mailutils on both ARM and "intel", you need to build it twice. If
you just want it on one ARM system, then repeat everything on the ARM
system and just do "sudo make install" without the DESTDIR and package
stuff which only matters if you want to install easily to other RPis
(and even then I'd personally just make a tarball and unpack that to "/" after installing the dependencies manually, rather than making an RPM package).

Besides this:

Looking at the 'Failed dependencies' message above, this looks as if
the devel packages have to be linked statically, otherwise movemail and
others cannot access them and are asking for them again.

Static linking should avoid any dependency problem when it's built on
ARM. Building on x86_64 "intel", nothing will work on ARM unless you
install and use a cross-compiling environment. But don't do that unless you're desperate for a challenge, just build on ARM in the first place,
since any RPi is capable of compiling Mailutils.

If you want the same build to run on Debian and "Redhat / Mageia", then static linking can achieve that more reliably. Note that it will prevent security updates to gnutls being applied when running Mailutils with encrypted connections, until you rebuild the static binary. You should
be able to use the Debian x86_64 Mailutils packages at least, so you
probably don't need to try running the Mageia build on there. Just
compile and install Mailutils normally on "Redhat / Mageia for intel"
and "debian for ARM" as two separate processes.

OK, thanks a lot!

Well, it was somehow strange to me that build-dependencies as *devel which
I had to include for building the package, I have to install as runtime requirements as well. But your statement about 'prevent security updates
to gnutls' sounds reasonable, indeed.

So, after installing the package and letting it install all dependencies automatically, the package seems to work now.

B.t.w., alien creates this dependencies automatically (which a plain tgz archive containing a resource tarball of the built binary files, does
not). It's quite handy, if you just want an install package and don't want
to go via control files or spec sheets. It's good to have it for
raspberry, too.
And, of course, alien cannot help making binary files interchangeable
between ARM and intel/amd. The build process has to be done per platform,
yes.

Many thanks again!
--
Please reply to group only.
For private email please use http://www.dipl-ing-kessler.de/email.htm
--- Synchronet 3.21b-Linux NewsLink 1.2

From Newsgroup: comp.sys.raspberry-pi

On 20 Jan 2026 07:41:06 +1000 Computer Nerd Kev wrote:

[..]

If you want the same build to run on Debian and "Redhat / Mageia", then static linking can achieve that more reliably. Note that it will prevent security updates to gnutls being applied when running Mailutils with encrypted connections, until you rebuild the static binary. You should
be able to use the Debian x86_64 Mailutils packages at least, so you
probably don't need to try running the Mageia build on there. Just
compile and install Mailutils normally on "Redhat / Mageia for intel"
and "debian for ARM" as two separate processes.

Yes, and now I try to install the GNU Mailutils source package on a Pi3B
with Bullseye OS. Meaning, try to rebuild the (ancient) package as is, and
as next steps, to replace the source tgz, do some adaptations and try to
get this built, also.

By some reason, Synaptic install GUI does only show the sources for a few packages, and Mailutils is not among them.

/etc/apt/sources.list contains

deb http://raspbian.raspberrypi.org/raspbian/ bullseye main contrib non-
free rpi
# Uncomment line below then 'apt-get update' to enable 'apt-get source'
deb-src http://raspbian.raspberrypi.org/raspbian/ bullseye main contrib non-free rpi

Is there one more repo to activate, so that it shows up for downloading?

Thank you!
--
Please reply to group only.
For private email please use http://www.dipl-ing-kessler.de/email.htm
--- Synchronet 3.21b-Linux NewsLink 1.2

From Newsgroup: comp.sys.raspberry-pi

Markus Robert Kessler <no_reply@dipl-ing-kessler.de> writes:

On 20 Jan 2026 07:41:06 +1000 Computer Nerd Kev wrote:

[..]

If you want the same build to run on Debian and "Redhat / Mageia", then
static linking can achieve that more reliably. Note that it will prevent
security updates to gnutls being applied when running Mailutils with
encrypted connections, until you rebuild the static binary. You should
be able to use the Debian x86_64 Mailutils packages at least, so you
probably don't need to try running the Mageia build on there. Just
compile and install Mailutils normally on "Redhat / Mageia for intel"
and "debian for ARM" as two separate processes.

Yes, and now I try to install the GNU Mailutils source package on a Pi3B with Bullseye OS. Meaning, try to rebuild the (ancient) package as is, and as next steps, to replace the source tgz, do some adaptations and try to

bullseye’s mailutils is ancient because bullseye is ancient, two full releases out of date. If you need recent software then upgrade to trixie (mailutils 3.19).

By some reason, Synaptic install GUI does only show the sources for a few packages, and Mailutils is not among them.

Synaptic doesn’t provide source packages, you use ‘apt-get source’ for that.

/etc/apt/sources.list contains

deb http://raspbian.raspberrypi.org/raspbian/ bullseye main contrib non-
free rpi
# Uncomment line below then 'apt-get update' to enable 'apt-get source'

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

deb-src http://raspbian.raspberrypi.org/raspbian/ bullseye main contrib non-free rpi

Is there one more repo to activate, so that it shows up for downloading?

--
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From Newsgroup: comp.sys.raspberry-pi

On Fri, 23 Jan 2026 12:24:02 -0000 (UTC), Markus Robert Kessler wrote:

By some reason, Synaptic install GUI does only show the sources for a few packages, and Mailutils is not among them.

/etc/apt/sources.list contains

deb http://raspbian.raspberrypi.org/raspbian/ bullseye main contrib non-
free rpi

<http://raspbian.raspberrypi.org/raspbian/pool/main/m/mailutils/>
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From Newsgroup: comp.sys.raspberry-pi

Markus Robert Kessler <no_reply@dipl-ing-kessler.de> wrote:

On 20 Jan 2026 07:41:06 +1000 Computer Nerd Kev wrote:

[..]

If you want the same build to run on Debian and "Redhat / Mageia", then
static linking can achieve that more reliably. Note that it will prevent
security updates to gnutls being applied when running Mailutils with
encrypted connections, until you rebuild the static binary. You should
be able to use the Debian x86_64 Mailutils packages at least, so you
probably don't need to try running the Mageia build on there. Just
compile and install Mailutils normally on "Redhat / Mageia for intel"
and "debian for ARM" as two separate processes.

Yes, and now I try to install the GNU Mailutils source package on a Pi3B with Bullseye OS. Meaning, try to rebuild the (ancient) package as is, and as next steps, to replace the source tgz, do some adaptations and try to
get this built, also.

I'd just build from the latest source code manually like you did on
Mageia, but whatever floats your boat...

By some reason, Synaptic install GUI does only show the sources for a few packages, and Mailutils is not among them.

/etc/apt/sources.list contains

deb http://raspbian.raspberrypi.org/raspbian/ bullseye main contrib non-
free rpi
# Uncomment line below then 'apt-get update' to enable 'apt-get source' deb-src http://raspbian.raspberrypi.org/raspbian/ bullseye main contrib non-free rpi

Is there one more repo to activate, so that it shows up for downloading?

As a guess: maybe the Raspbian package repo doesn't have sources
for packages they copied from Debian instead of rebuilding
themselves? You could look at the Debian package info/downloads
on the web like LDO suggested. I'm not sure how building from
sources automatically via Apt works, so I'm not sure how you'd use
the Debian package repo with that.
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From Newsgroup: comp.sys.raspberry-pi

Computer Nerd Kev <not@telling.you.invalid> wrote:

You could look at the Debian package info/downloads
on the web like LDO suggested.

My mistake, he linked to the location on the Raspbian mirror,
here's what I meant:

https://packages.debian.org/source/bullseye/mailutils

But, again, I'd ignore that myself and just build it like you did
before.
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From Newsgroup: comp.sys.raspberry-pi

On 24/01/2026 01:25, Computer Nerd Kev wrote:

As a guess: maybe the Raspbian package repo doesn't have sources
for packages they copied from Debian instead of rebuilding
themselves?

Raspbian doesn't copy packages from Debian, it just uses the Debian
repos. The Raspberry Pi's own repo doesn't contain userspace packages
unless they're pi-specific.

The issue is probably that /etc/apt/sources.list only has a line for
"deb" packages and not "deb-src" packages, by default.

Such a line is easy to add.

(If the OP were using Trixie it would be a matter of adding "deb-src"
after "deb" on the line starting "Types:" in /etc/apt/sources.list.d/debian.sources).
--
Cheers,
Daniel.
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From Newsgroup: comp.sys.raspberry-pi

On Sat, 24 Jan 2026 11:20:25 +0000 Daniel James wrote:

On 24/01/2026 01:25, Computer Nerd Kev wrote:

As a guess: maybe the Raspbian package repo doesn't have sources for
packages they copied from Debian instead of rebuilding themselves?

Raspbian doesn't copy packages from Debian, it just uses the Debian
repos. The Raspberry Pi's own repo doesn't contain userspace packages
unless they're pi-specific.

The issue is probably that /etc/apt/sources.list only has a line for
"deb" packages and not "deb-src" packages, by default.

Such a line is easy to add.

(If the OP were using Trixie it would be a matter of adding "deb-src"
after "deb" on the line starting "Types:" in /etc/apt/sources.list.d/debian.sources).

I just modified the list of sources in /etc/apt/sources.list and /etc/apt/ sources.list.d/debian.sources and tried to upgrade from bullseye to trixie directly, but this failed. Maybe this was not a good idea.

At least the machine boots and runs properly, but no further update
possible. - Is there a way to revert back and first upgrade to bookworm
and then to trixie, or is the only proper solution to set up a new
install?

Thanks!
--
Please reply to group only.
For private email please use http://www.dipl-ing-kessler.de/email.htm
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From Newsgroup: comp.sys.raspberry-pi

Daniel James <daniel@me.invalid> wrote:

On 24/01/2026 01:25, Computer Nerd Kev wrote:

As a guess: maybe the Raspbian package repo doesn't have sources
for packages they copied from Debian instead of rebuilding
themselves?

Raspbian doesn't copy packages from Debian, it just uses the Debian
repos. The Raspberry Pi's own repo doesn't contain userspace packages
unless they're pi-specific.

This is evidently untrue simply from looking at the Raspbian repo's
contents. I found out the hard way that some packages like Firefox
there are built only for Debian's target ARM architectures, not the
early Raspberry Pi boards.

Also I haven't seen the Debian repo used in Raspbian sources.list,
though I haven't used the more recent RPi OS versions. Would this
even work seeing as there'd be conflicting packages for the same
programs? In my experience with Debian on PC, it wouldn't since Apt
doesn't favour one repo over another - it just selects whichever
package versions look latest.

The issue is probably that /etc/apt/sources.list only has a line for
"deb" packages and not "deb-src" packages, by default.

He posted that there was a "deb-src" line already.

Anyway it still won't build him the latest Mailutils which would be
easy to do the same way he already did it on PC (providing the
dependency package names are changed to Debian ones), so I think I
give up at this point.
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From Newsgroup: comp.sys.raspberry-pi

not@telling.you.invalid (Computer Nerd Kev) writes:

Daniel James <daniel@me.invalid> wrote:

On 24/01/2026 01:25, Computer Nerd Kev wrote:

As a guess: maybe the Raspbian package repo doesn't have sources
for packages they copied from Debian instead of rebuilding
themselves?

Raspbian doesn't copy packages from Debian, it just uses the Debian
repos. The Raspberry Pi's own repo doesn't contain userspace packages
unless they're pi-specific.

This is evidently untrue simply from looking at the Raspbian repo's
contents. I found out the hard way that some packages like Firefox
there are built only for Debian's target ARM architectures, not the
early Raspberry Pi boards.

Also I haven't seen the Debian repo used in Raspbian sources.list,
though I haven't used the more recent RPi OS versions.

It uses both debian.org (or mirrors thereof) and raspberrypi.org. The
latter has RPi-specific packages (e.g. raspi-config) and RPi-specific
rebuilds of standard packages (e.g. vlc), but excludes packages where
the binaries are shared with Debian (e.g. coreutils).

Would this even work seeing as there'd be conflicting packages for the
same programs? In my experience with Debian on PC, it wouldn't since
Apt doesn't favour one repo over another - it just selects whichever
package versions look latest.

It works fine...

The issue is probably that /etc/apt/sources.list only has a line for
"deb" packages and not "deb-src" packages, by default.

He posted that there was a "deb-src" line already.

Anyway it still won't build him the latest Mailutils which would be
easy to do the same way he already did it on PC (providing the
dependency package names are changed to Debian ones), so I think I
give up at this point.

The answer was clear from the original post: OP didn’t know how to get
source packages.
--
https://www.greenend.org.uk/rjk/
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From Newsgroup: comp.sys.raspberry-pi

On 24/01/2026 21:11, Computer Nerd Kev wrote:

Raspbian doesn't copy packages from Debian, it just uses the
Debian repos. The Raspberry Pi's own repo doesn't contain
userspace packages unless they're pi-specific.

This is evidently untrue simply from looking at the Raspbian repo's contents. I found out the hard way that some packages like Firefox
there are built only for Debian's target ARM architectures, not the
early Raspberry Pi boards.

I suppose it depends what you mean by pi-specific. Yes, there are builds
of some userspace applications in the pi repo (more than I realized, I
admit).

Also I haven't seen the Debian repo used in Raspbian sources.list,
though I haven't used the more recent RPi OS versions.

The debian.sources file in Trixie looks identical on my AMD64 box and my
Pi5. I don't have Bullseye installs around, any more, to check.

Would this even work seeing as there'd be conflicting packages for
the same programs? In my experience with Debian on PC, it wouldn't
since Apt doesn't favour one repo over another - it just selects
whichever package versions look latest.

apt is complex. It uses version numbers, priorities, pinning, and
preferences from /etc/apt -- it does seem to work, but I haven't worked
out exactly how.
--
Cheers,
Daniel.
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From Newsgroup: comp.sys.raspberry-pi

Richard Kettlewell <invalid@invalid.invalid> wrote:

not@telling.you.invalid (Computer Nerd Kev) writes:

Daniel James <daniel@me.invalid> wrote:

On 24/01/2026 01:25, Computer Nerd Kev wrote:

As a guess: maybe the Raspbian package repo doesn't have sources
for packages they copied from Debian instead of rebuilding
themselves?

Raspbian doesn't copy packages from Debian, it just uses the Debian
repos. The Raspberry Pi's own repo doesn't contain userspace packages
unless they're pi-specific.

This is evidently untrue simply from looking at the Raspbian repo's
contents. I found out the hard way that some packages like Firefox
there are built only for Debian's target ARM architectures, not the
early Raspberry Pi boards.

Also I haven't seen the Debian repo used in Raspbian sources.list,
though I haven't used the more recent RPi OS versions.

It uses both debian.org (or mirrors thereof) and raspberrypi.org. The
latter has RPi-specific packages (e.g. raspi-config) and RPi-specific rebuilds of standard packages (e.g. vlc), but excludes packages where
the binaries are shared with Debian (e.g. coreutils).

OK, maybe the sources.list has changed in newer versions, but
coreutils _is_ there the RPi repo, and updated in 2025:

http://raspbian.raspberrypi.org/raspbian/pool/main/c/coreutils/

Would this even work seeing as there'd be conflicting packages for the
same programs? In my experience with Debian on PC, it wouldn't since
Apt doesn't favour one repo over another - it just selects whichever
package versions look latest.

It works fine...

They did better than the developers of AntiX then, where Aptitude
would keep selecting Systemd-dependent packages from the Debian
repo when they were updated to a newer version than the Sysv ones in
the AntiX repo. I couldn't find any settings to prevent that so I
switched to Devuan which has its own separate repo for all
packages, though most are probably the same as the Debian packages.
I thought it worked like that in RPi OS as well, but I've switched
away from that now.

The issue is probably that /etc/apt/sources.list only has a line for
"deb" packages and not "deb-src" packages, by default.

He posted that there was a "deb-src" line already.

Anyway it still won't build him the latest Mailutils which would be
easy to do the same way he already did it on PC (providing the
dependency package names are changed to Debian ones), so I think I
give up at this point.

The answer was clear from the original post: OP didn't know how to get
source packages.

OP won't get source packages for the newer Mailutils version he
wants that way, just the old version used for the package, which
he's not happy with. But OP already has the sources he used for
building the latest version on PC, minus the Debian patches (which
might not work on the latest version anyway).
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From Newsgroup: comp.sys.raspberry-pi

Computer Nerd Kev <not@telling.you.invalid> writes:

Richard Kettlewell <invalid@invalid.invalid> wrote:

It uses both debian.org (or mirrors thereof) and raspberrypi.org. The
latter has RPi-specific packages (e.g. raspi-config) and RPi-specific
rebuilds of standard packages (e.g. vlc), but excludes packages where
the binaries are shared with Debian (e.g. coreutils).

OK, maybe the sources.list has changed in newer versions, but
coreutils _is_ there the RPi repo, and updated in 2025:

http://raspbian.raspberrypi.org/raspbian/pool/main/c/coreutils/

Not in arm64 trixie.

$ curl -s https://archive.raspberrypi.org/debian/dists/trixie/main/binary-arm64/Packages | grep 'Package: coreutils'
$

OP won't get source packages for the newer Mailutils version he wants
that way, just the old version used for the package, which he's not
happy with. But OP already has the sources he used for building the
latest version on PC, minus the Debian patches (which might not work
on the latest version anyway).

I’m not clear why it has to be a specific version anyway...
--
https://www.greenend.org.uk/rjk/
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From Newsgroup: comp.sys.raspberry-pi

Richard Kettlewell <invalid@invalid.invalid> wrote:

Computer Nerd Kev <not@telling.you.invalid> writes:

Richard Kettlewell <invalid@invalid.invalid> wrote:

It uses both debian.org (or mirrors thereof) and raspberrypi.org. The
latter has RPi-specific packages (e.g. raspi-config) and RPi-specific
rebuilds of standard packages (e.g. vlc), but excludes packages where
the binaries are shared with Debian (e.g. coreutils).

OK, maybe the sources.list has changed in newer versions, but
coreutils _is_ there the RPi repo, and updated in 2025:

http://raspbian.raspberrypi.org/raspbian/pool/main/c/coreutils/

Not in arm64 trixie.

$ curl -s https://archive.raspberrypi.org/debian/dists/trixie/main/binary-arm64/Packages | grep 'Package: coreutils'
$

That appears to be something different. Trying the same thing with
the raspbian.raspberrypi.org site the OP is using in their
sources.list as they posted earlier:

$ wget http://raspbian.raspberrypi.org/raspbian/dists/trixie/main/binary-armhf/Packages.xz
[snip]
$ xz -d Packages.xz
$ grep 'Package: coreutils' Packages
Package: coreutils

(yes I know you can use pipes there too, I don't like wasting data
and time if I want to run another grep)

They don't seem to have 64bit packages at raspbian.raspberrypi.org,
so I guess 64bit installs use "archive" or something else.
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