bug#28173: texlive-texmf-minimal not reproducible

[zimoun]

Hi Ricardo,

On Thu, 16 Sep 2021 at 13:26, Ricardo Wurmus <rekado@elephly.net> wrote:

> Many of the modular texlive packages have reproducibility issues.
>
> Take texlive-cm for example.  METAFONT writes a timestamp into
> every generated font file
> (e.g. 
> /gnu/store/lkmiyfzi1bq571yn4gypbcs5vn4fpma7-texlive-cm-51265/share/texmf-dist/fonts/tfm/public/cm/cmvtt10.600gf).
> It also generates log files that contain timestamped lines like
> these:
>
> │ │ │ │ │ │ ├── +++
> /gnu/store/lkmiyfzi1bq571yn4gypbcs5vn4fpma7-texlive-cm-51265/share/texmf-dist/fonts/tfm/public/cm/cmu10.log

[..]

> Perhaps we could just delete this log file.

Yeah, maybe this file could be removed -- if this log file follows a
pattern for the various TeXlive packages.


For instance, these…

> /gnu/store/2x6jddfgfg5rp342wsrsl5gssz2lkd06-texlive-union-51265/share/texmf-dist/fonts/map/dvips/updmap/:
> │ │ │ │ -       15890 2021-09-16 11:24:07 builtin35.map
> │ │ │ │ -       21363 2021-09-16 11:24:07 download35.map
> │ │ │ │ -       21470 2021-09-16 11:24:07 psfonts_pk.map
> │ │ │ │ -       21674 2021-09-16 11:24:07 psfonts_t1.map
> │ │ │ │ -       21669 2021-09-16 11:24:07 ps2pk.map
> │ │ │ │ -          14 2021-09-16 11:24:07 psfonts.map ->
> psfonts_t1.map
> │ │ │ │ +       15890 2021-09-16 11:24:06 builtin35.map
> │ │ │ │ +       21363 2021-09-16 11:24:06 download35.map
> │ │ │ │ +       21470 2021-09-16 11:24:06 psfonts_pk.map
> │ │ │ │ +       21674 2021-09-16 11:24:06 psfonts_t1.map
> │ │ │ │ +       21669 2021-09-16 11:24:06 ps2pk.map
> │ │ │ │ +          14 2021-09-16 11:24:06 psfonts.map ->
> psfonts_t1.map
> │ │ │ │
> /gnu/store/2x6jddfgfg5rp342wsrsl5gssz2lkd06-texlive-union-51265/share/texmf-dist/fonts/map/pdftex/updmap/:
> │ │ │ │ -       21676 2021-09-16 11:24:07 pdftex_dl14.map
> │ │ │ │ -       20011 2021-09-16 11:24:07 pdftex_ndl14.map
> │ │ │ │ -          15 2021-09-16 11:24:07 pdftex.map ->
> pdftex_dl14.map
> │ │ │ │ +       21676 2021-09-16 11:24:06 pdftex_dl14.map
> │ │ │ │ +       20011 2021-09-16 11:24:06 pdftex_ndl14.map
> │ │ │ │ +          15 2021-09-16 11:24:06 pdftex.map ->
> pdftex_dl14.map
> │ │ │ │
> /gnu/store/2x6jddfgfg5rp342wsrsl5gssz2lkd06-texlive-union-51265/share/texmf-dist/fonts/map/dvipdfmx/updmap/:
> │ │ │ │ -         413 2021-09-16 11:24:07 kanjix.map
> │ │ │ │ +         413 2021-09-16 11:24:06 kanjix.map

…seem annoying.  Is it possible to set the date at Big Bang, i.e.,
1970-01-01 00:00:00 UTC?

Cheers,
simon