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Review: golang-github-kastenhq-goversion 1.1-1

Package Information

Descriptionreport the Go toolchain version used to build an executable (library)

A Go library and command-line tool that inspects compiled executables and reports the Go toolchain version used to build them. It parses ELF, Mach-O and PE binaries directly, and can also list the modules and module hashes embedded in a binary's build information, or report which crypto libraries were linked in.

This is a fork of Russ Cox's rsc.io/goversion, extended to read an executable from an io.Reader rather than only from a file on disk.

This package contains the source, for use when building other Go programs.

MaintainerDebian Go Packaging Team <team+pkg-go@tracker.debian.org>
Changed ByJuan Manuel Méndez Rey <juan.mendezr@proton.me>
Sponsortsimonq2@debian.org
Distributionunstable
Architectureany all
VCSgit: https://salsa.debian.org/go-team/packages/golang-github-kastenhq-goversion.git (browse)
Closes#1148627
Trackerhttps://tracker.debian.org/pkg/golang-github-kastenhq-goversion
Uploaded13 days ago

New Package Report

.changes◂
DateTue, 22 Sep 2026 03:46:22 +0200
Sourcegolang-github-kastenhq-goversion
Version1.1-1
Changed-ByJuan Manuel Méndez Rey <juan.mendezr@proton.me>
Architecturesource all amd64
Distributionunstable
Changelog◂
golang-github-kastenhq-goversion (1.1-1) unstable; urgency=medium
 .
   * Initial release (Closes: #1148627)
.dsc◂
Priorityoptional
Componentmain
Package-Listgolang-github-kastenhq-goversion-dev deb golang optional arch=all
goversion deb devel optional arch=any
Sectiongolang
debian/copyright◂
Format: https://www.debian.org/doc/packaging-manuals/copyright-format/1.0/
Source: https://github.com/kastenhq/goversion
Upstream-Name: goversion
Upstream-Contact: https://github.com/kastenhq/goversion/issues

Files: *
Copyright: 2009 The Go Authors
License: BSD-3-clause
Comment: Kasten added no copyright statement of its own. The LICENSE is
 byte-identical to the Go project's and names The Go Authors; the source files
 carry "Copyright 2017 The Go Authors. All Rights Reserved."

Files: debian/*
Copyright: 2026 Juan Manuel Méndez Rey <juan.mendezr@proton.me>
License: BSD-3-clause
Comment: Debian packaging is licensed under the same terms as upstream

License: BSD-3-clause
 All rights reserved.
 .
 Redistribution and use in source and binary forms, with or without
 modification, are permitted provided that the following conditions are met:
 .
 * Redistributions of source code must retain the above copyright notice,
   this list of conditions and the following disclaimer.
 * Redistributions in binary form must reproduce the above copyright notice,
   this list of conditions and the following disclaimer in the documentation
   and/or other materials provided with the distribution.
 * Neither the name of the developer(s) nor the names of its
   contributors may be used to endorse or promote products derived from this
   software without specific prior written permission.
 .
 THIS SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED BY THE COPYRIGHT HOLDERS AND CONTRIBUTORS "AS IS"
 AND ANY EXPRESS OR IMPLIED WARRANTIES, INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, THE
 IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY AND FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE
 ARE DISCLAIMED. IN NO EVENT SHALL THE COPYRIGHT HOLDER OR CONTRIBUTORS BE
 LIABLE FOR ANY DIRECT, INDIRECT, INCIDENTAL, SPECIAL, EXEMPLARY, OR
 CONSEQUENTIAL DAMAGES (INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, PROCUREMENT OF
 SUBSTITUTE GOODS OR SERVICES; LOSS OF USE, DATA, OR PROFITS; OR BUSINESS
 INTERRUPTION) HOWEVER CAUSED AND ON ANY THEORY OF LIABILITY, WHETHER IN
 CONTRACT, STRICT LIABILITY, OR TORT (INCLUDING NEGLIGENCE OR OTHERWISE)
 ARISING IN ANY WAY OUT OF THE USE OF THIS SOFTWARE, EVEN IF ADVISED OF THE
 POSSIBILITY OF SUCH DAMAGE.

DFSG Assistant LLM REVIEW 0 blocker, 0 important, 0 minor

This is an LLM based review using a Debian Inference based workflow. It was not written by a member of the DFSG team and has not been checked by one. It is not a decision on the package: it may be wrong, and it may have missed things.

Reviewed 13 days ago.

Report◂

DFSG NEW review for golang-github-kastenhq-goversion version 1.1-1

Summary

  • Licensing is DFSG-compliant and debian/copyright is accurate: Yes
  • Packaging is of good quality: Yes
  • Issues: 0 blocker, 0 important, 0 minor
  • debian/watch: version 5
  • debian/copyright: machine-readable
  • Scan before the review: nothing found

Licensing

The whole upstream tree is BSD-3-clause (The Go Authors), a free licence, and debian/copyright is in DEP-5 format, names the holder, matches every file with Files: * plus debian/*, and reproduces the full BSD-3-clause text. A tree-wide search for licence and copyright wording found no other holder, no SPDX headers and no non-free terms, and no built, minified, vendored or generated-without-source file. The 2009 (LICENSE) vs 2017 (source headers) year difference is only drift, and the fork carries no separate copyright notice.

Packaging

Clean, current Go packaging: debhelper compat 14 with dh-go's golang buildsystem, dpkg-build-api (= 1), debhelper-compat and dh-go both present in the archive, a DEP-3 patch with a clear purpose and a valid Forwarded URL, autopkgtest-pkg-go, correct Multi-Arch and Built-Using/Static-Built-Using handling (dh_golang generates those substvars), sane Vcs-*/Homepage and a single well-formed changelog entry closing the ITP. No maintainer scripts, no missing dependency, and no file named by debian/ that is absent from the tree.

Issues

None.

Verified ◂
  • Inventory of the unpacked tree (excluding .pc/): main.go, version/asm.go, version/exe.go, version/read.go, LICENSE, README.md, go.mod, and debian/*. No binary, minified, archived or generated file, no vendor/ and no test data anywhere; the only non-text files beside the tree are the .dsc and the two tarballs.
  • LICENSE is the Go project's BSD-3-clause text ('Copyright (c) 2009 The Go Authors. All rights reserved.'), and every source file carries // Copyright 2017 The Go Authors. All Rights Reserved. plus 'Use of this source code is governed by a BSD-style license ... in the LICENSE file'. debian/copyright Files: * names The Go Authors and BSD-3-clause and carries the complete licence text, so the notice is reproduced.
  • A grep of the whole tree (gitignore off) for Copyright/(C)/©/SPDX/Licensed under/permission is hereby granted/GNU/Apache/Mozilla/public domain/all rights reserved/non-commercial/no-modification found only the Go Authors notices above: no second holder, no other licence, no non-free clause. This also covers README.md and go.mod, which have no notice of their own.
  • debian/copyright input to the scan: the pre-scan's author check reported 'every holder found is named in debian/copyright' and listed no files to account for, so there is nothing from that list to explain as an issue.
  • The debian/copyright stand-alone BSD-3-clause paragraph paraphrases clause 3 as 'Neither the name of the developer(s) ...' where the upstream LICENSE names 'Google Inc.'. The licence is the same BSD-3-clause and the holder is named in Copyright, so this is a wording difference only, not a licensing inaccuracy.
  • Debian patch 0001-import-own-version-package.patch only changes main.go: it drops the // import "rsc.io/goversion" comment and imports github.com/kastenhq/goversion/version instead of rsc.io/goversion/version. version/*.go import only the standard library (encoding/binary, fmt, os, debug/elf, debug/macho, debug/pe, io, regexp, archive/... ), so the tree builds without anything outside itself; the patch's claim is accurate.
  • go.mod still has require rsc.io/goversion v1.2.0 // indirect, which the patch makes unused, but dh-golang compiles in GOPATH mode (GO111MODULE defaults to off in /usr/share/perl5/Debian/Debhelper/Buildsystem/golang.pm), so the stale require does not affect the build or the shipped -dev package.
  • Build-Depends checked against the archive: debhelper-compat (= 14) (debhelper 14.5), dpkg-build-api (= 1) (virtual package provided by dpkg-dev 1.23.11; level 1 is 'the recommended level' per dpkg-build-api(7), and it makes Rules-Requires-Root default to no), dh-go 1.69 (provides the golang debhelper addon and dh_golang_autopkgtest, Conflicts dh-golang), golang-any 2:1.27~1. All exist, and dpkg-build-api level 1 matches the current dpkg.
  • Testsuite: autopkgtest-pkg-go is the documented mechanism: autodep8(1) 'AUTOMATIC USAGE BY AUTOPKGTEST' says autopkgtest calls autodep8 for Testsuite: autopkgtest-pkg-TYPE. autodep8 0.31's changelog records 'go: drop explicit test dependency on dh-golang (Closes: #1147597)', so the generated go test works with this package's dh-go, and no debian/tests/control is needed.
  • Built-Using/Static-Built-Using: /usr/bin/dh_golang writes misc:Static-Built-Using (and the deprecated misc:Built-Using for compatibility, and only for arch-dependent packages), so the two ${misc:...} fields on the goversion binary are the right ones and an empty value is dropped by dh_gencontrol.
  • Multi-Arch: foreign on both packages is correct: the -dev package ships architecture-independent Go source, and Policy 5.6.34.2 states that for binary executables 'the exposed interface can be independent of the architecture used to execute' - goversion's interface (reporting the Go build version of an executable) does not expose the architecture; cmake is a precedent for foreign on an architecture-dependent tool.
  • Standards-Version 4.7.4 against the reviewing system's Policy 4.7.4.1: same first three components, so not an issue. Changelog 1.1-1, unstable, initial release closing #1148627, matches the upstream 1.1 tarball. No missing Priority field (Policy 2.5 allows omission of optional since dpkg 1.22.13).
  • The lintian override in debian/source/lintian-overrides (missing-build-dependency-for-dh-addon golang) is justified: apt-cache shows dh-go 1.69 has no Provides: dh-sequence-golang and Conflicts: dh-golang, while debian/rules loads the addon with --with=golang.
  • uscan found the packaged version as the newest upstream release (upstream 1.1, packaged 1.1).
Not confirmed ◂
  • Whether the fork's own additions (version.ReadExeFromReader, which is in the orig tarball and not touched by the Debian patch) were written by Kasten and are held by a copyright holder of their own: no file notice names anyone but The Go Authors, debian/copyright states Kasten added no statement of its own, and the archive gives no way to look behind the repository.
  • A build and autopkgtest run were not attempted (and cannot be here); nothing in the tree - no missing file named by debian/rules, no dependency absent from the archive - suggests either would fail.
Proposed changes ◂

None.

Uploader's response to the LLM review

The uploader was emailed about the review 13 days ago.

Review Information

accepted — allocated to awm 13 days ago, started 13 days ago, completed 13 days ago.

Final Comment

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