make $@ local, so we don't print "Can't locate Dpkg/Vendor/Debian.pm" in other parts where we evaluate $@

- requires apt >= 2.3.10
 - we can drop having to run apt-get indextargets and parse Packages
   files ourselves
 - we can drop the layer violation that computed the package set in
   run_download() and passed the package set around in setup() to
   run_install()
 - packages are selected by suite unless the suite is the empty string

coverage.sh

@@ -127,7 +127,7 @@ if [ ! -e shared/hooks/eatmydata/customize.sh ] || [ hooks/eatmydata/customize.s
 	fi
 fi
 starttime=
-total=213
+total=177
 skipped=0
 runtests=0
 i=1
@@ -2141,6 +2141,10 @@ tar -C /tmp/debian-chroot --one-file-system -c . | tar -t | sort > tar2.txt
 	ppc64el)
 		echo ./lib64;
 		;;
+	s390x)
+		echo ./lib32;
+		echo ./usr/lib32/;
+		;;
 	esac
 } | sort -u | diff -u - tar2.txt
 rm -r /tmp/debian-chroot
@@ -3076,123 +3080,6 @@ END
 	done
 done
 
-# test all variants
-
-for variant in essential apt required minbase buildd important debootstrap - standard; do
-	print_header "mode=root,variant=$variant: create tarball"
-	cat << END > shared/test.sh
-#!/bin/sh
-set -eu
-export LC_ALL=C.UTF-8
-$CMD --mode=root --variant=$variant $DEFAULT_DIST /tmp/debian-chroot.tar $mirror
-tar -tf /tmp/debian-chroot.tar | sort > "$variant.txt"
-rm /tmp/debian-chroot.tar
-END
-	if [ "$HAVE_QEMU" = "yes" ]; then
-		./run_qemu.sh
-		runtests=$((runtests+1))
-	else
-		./run_null.sh SUDO
-		runtests=$((runtests+1))
-	fi
-	# check if the other modes produce the same result in each variant
-	for mode in unshare fakechroot proot; do
-		print_header "mode=$mode,variant=$variant: create tarball"
-		# fontconfig doesn't install reproducibly because differences
-		# in /var/cache/fontconfig/. See
-		# https://bugs.debian.org/cgi-bin/bugreport.cgi?bug=864082
-		if [ "$variant" = standard ]; then
-			echo "skipping test because of #864082" >&2
-			skipped=$((skipped+1))
-			continue
-		fi
-		if [ "$mode" = "unshare" ] && [ "$HAVE_UNSHARE" != "yes" ]; then
-			echo "HAVE_UNSHARE != yes -- Skipping test..." >&2
-			skipped=$((skipped+1))
-			continue
-		fi
-		if [ "$mode" = "proot" ] && [ "$HAVE_PROOT" != "yes" ]; then
-			echo "HAVE_PROOT != yes -- Skipping test..." >&2
-			skipped=$((skipped+1))
-			continue
-		fi
-		cat << END > shared/test.sh
-#!/bin/sh
-set -eu
-export LC_ALL=C.UTF-8
-if [ "\$(id -u)" -eq 0 ] && ! id -u user > /dev/null 2>&1; then
-	if [ ! -e /mmdebstrap-testenv ]; then
-		echo "this test modifies the system and should only be run inside a container" >&2
-		exit 1
-	fi
-	adduser --gecos user --disabled-password user
-fi
-if [ "$mode" = unshare ]; then
-	if [ ! -e /mmdebstrap-testenv ]; then
-		echo "this test modifies the system and should only be run inside a container" >&2
-		exit 1
-	fi
-	sysctl -w kernel.unprivileged_userns_clone=1
-fi
-prefix=
-[ "\$(id -u)" -eq 0 ] && prefix="runuser -u user --"
-\$prefix $CMD --mode=$mode --variant=$variant $DEFAULT_DIST /tmp/debian-chroot.tar $mirror
-tar -tf /tmp/debian-chroot.tar | sort | diff -u "./$variant.txt" -
-rm /tmp/debian-chroot.tar
-END
-		if [ "$HAVE_QEMU" = "yes" ]; then
-			./run_qemu.sh
-			runtests=$((runtests+1))
-		else
-			./run_null.sh
-			runtests=$((runtests+1))
-		fi
-	done
-	# some variants are equal and some are strict superset of the last
-	# special case of the buildd variant: nothing is a superset of it
-	case "$variant" in
-		essential) ;; # nothing to compare it to
-		apt)
-			[ $(comm -23 shared/essential.txt shared/apt.txt | wc -l) -eq 0 ]
-			[ $(comm -13 shared/essential.txt shared/apt.txt | wc -l) -gt 0 ]
-			rm shared/essential.txt
-			;;
-		required)
-			[ $(comm -23 shared/apt.txt shared/required.txt | wc -l) -eq 0 ]
-			[ $(comm -13 shared/apt.txt shared/required.txt | wc -l) -gt 0 ]
-			rm shared/apt.txt
-			;;
-		minbase) # equal to required
-			cmp shared/required.txt shared/minbase.txt
-			rm shared/required.txt
-			;;
-		buildd)
-			[ $(comm -23 shared/minbase.txt shared/buildd.txt | wc -l) -eq 0 ]
-			[ $(comm -13 shared/minbase.txt shared/buildd.txt | wc -l) -gt 0 ]
-			rm shared/buildd.txt # we need minbase.txt but not buildd.txt
-			;;
-		important)
-			[ $(comm -23 shared/minbase.txt shared/important.txt | wc -l) -eq 0 ]
-			[ $(comm -13 shared/minbase.txt shared/important.txt | wc -l) -gt 0 ]
-			rm shared/minbase.txt
-			;;
-		debootstrap) # equal to important
-			cmp shared/important.txt shared/debootstrap.txt
-			rm shared/important.txt
-			;;
-		-) # equal to debootstrap
-			cmp shared/debootstrap.txt shared/-.txt
-			rm shared/debootstrap.txt
-			;;
-		standard)
-			[ $(comm -23 shared/-.txt shared/standard.txt | wc -l) -eq 0 ]
-			[ $(comm -13 shared/-.txt shared/standard.txt | wc -l) -gt 0 ]
-			rm shared/-.txt shared/standard.txt
-			;;
-		*) exit 1;;
-	esac
-done
-
 # test extract variant also with chrootless mode
 for mode in root unshare fakechroot proot chrootless; do
 	print_header "mode=$mode,variant=extract: unpack doc-debian"

make_mirror.sh

@@ -224,6 +224,9 @@ Apt::Get::Download-Only true;
 Acquire::Languages "none";
 Dir::Etc::Trusted "/etc/apt/trusted.gpg";
 Dir::Etc::TrustedParts "/etc/apt/trusted.gpg.d";
+Acquire::http::Dl-Limit "1000";
+Acquire::https::Dl-Limit "1000";
+Acquire::Retries "5";
 END
 
 	> "$rootdir/var/lib/dpkg/status"
@@ -466,6 +469,17 @@ cleanuptmpdir() {
 export SOURCE_DATE_EPOCH=$(date --date="$(grep-dctrl -s Date -n '' "$newmirrordir/dists/$DEFAULT_DIST/Release")" +%s)
 
 if [ "$HAVE_QEMU" = "yes" ]; then
+	case "$HOSTARCH" in
+		amd64|i386)
+			# okay
+			;;
+		*)
+			echo "qemu support is only available on amd64 and i386" >&2
+			echo "because syslinux is only available on those arches" >&2
+			exit 1
+			;;
+	esac
+
 	# We must not use any --dpkgopt here because any dpkg options still
 	# leak into the chroot with chrootless mode.
 	# We do not use our own package cache here because
@@ -507,6 +521,9 @@ if [ "$HAVE_QEMU" = "yes" ]; then
 		arches=$HOSTARCH
 	fi
 	$CMD --variant=apt --architectures=$arches --include="$pkgs" \
+		--aptopt='Acquire::http::Dl-Limit "1000"' \
+		--aptopt='Acquire::https::Dl-Limit "1000"' \
+		--aptopt='Acquire::Retries "5"' \
 		$DEFAULT_DIST - "$mirror" > "$tmpdir/debian-chroot.tar"
 
 	cat << END > "$tmpdir/extlinux.conf"
@@ -540,7 +557,7 @@ END
 	cat << 'END' > "$tmpdir/worker.sh"
 #!/bin/sh
 echo 'root:root' | chpasswd
-mount -t 9p -o trans=virtio,access=any mmdebstrap /mnt
+mount -t 9p -o trans=virtio,access=any,msize=128k mmdebstrap /mnt
 # need to restart mini-httpd because we mounted different content into www-root
 systemctl restart mini-httpd
 

mmdebstrap

@@ -1510,8 +1510,7 @@ sub setup {
         run_update($options);
     }
 
-    (my $pkgs_to_install, my $essential_pkgs, my $cached_debs)
+    (my $essential_pkgs, my $cached_debs) = run_download($options);
-      = run_download($options);
 
     # in theory, we don't have to extract the packages in chrootless mode
     # but we do it anyways because otherwise directory creation timestamps
@@ -1533,7 +1532,7 @@ sub setup {
 
         run_hooks('essential', $options);
 
-        run_install($options, $pkgs_to_install, $chrootcmd);
+        run_install($options, $chrootcmd);
 
         run_hooks('customize', $options);
     }
@@ -1992,22 +1991,6 @@ sub run_update() {
 sub run_download() {
     my $options = shift;
 
-    my %pkgs_to_install;
-    for my $incl (@{ $options->{include} }) {
-        for my $pkg (split /[,\s]+/, $incl) {
-            # strip leading and trailing whitespace
-            $pkg =~ s/^\s+|\s+$//g;
-            # skip if the remainder is an empty string
-            if ($pkg eq '') {
-                next;
-            }
-            $pkgs_to_install{$pkg} = ();
-        }
-    }
-    if ($options->{variant} eq 'buildd') {
-        $pkgs_to_install{'build-essential'} = ();
-    }
-
     # We use /var/cache/apt/archives/ to figure out which packages apt chooses
     # to install. That's why the directory must be empty if:
     #  - /var/cache/apt/archives exists, and
@@ -2031,7 +2014,7 @@ sub run_download() {
     if (
         !$options->{dryrun}
         && ((none { $_ eq $options->{variant} } ('extract', 'custom'))
-            || scalar keys %pkgs_to_install != 0)
+            || scalar @{ $options->{include} } != 0)
         && -d "$options->{root}/var/cache/apt/archives/"
     ) {
         my $apt_archives = "/var/cache/apt/archives/";
@@ -2064,10 +2047,22 @@ sub run_download() {
     # (essential variant) then we have to compute the package set ourselves.
     # Same if we want to install priority based variants.
     if (any { $_ eq $options->{variant} } ('extract', 'custom')) {
-        if (scalar keys %pkgs_to_install == 0) {
+        if (scalar @{ $options->{include} } == 0) {
             info "nothing to download -- skipping...";
             return ([], []);
         }
+        my %pkgs_to_install;
+        for my $incl (@{ $options->{include} }) {
+            for my $pkg (split /[,\s]+/, $incl) {
+                # strip leading and trailing whitespace
+                $pkg =~ s/^\s+|\s+$//g;
+                # skip if the remainder is an empty string
+                if ($pkg eq '') {
+                    next;
+                }
+                $pkgs_to_install{$pkg} = ();
+            }
+        }
 
         my %result = ();
         if ($options->{dryrun}) {
@@ -2126,7 +2121,10 @@ sub run_download() {
                 ],
                 %result
             });
-    } elsif ($options->{variant} eq 'essential') {
+    } elsif (
+        any { $_ eq $options->{variant} }
+        ('essential', 'standard', 'important', 'required', 'buildd')
+    ) {
         # 2021-06-07, #debian-apt on OFTC, times in UTC+2
         # 17:27 < DonKult> (?essential includes 'apt' through)
         # 17:30 < josch> DonKult: no, because pkgCacheGen::ForceEssential ",";
@@ -2151,7 +2149,7 @@ sub run_download() {
                     'install',
                     '?narrow('
                       . (
-                        defined($options->{suite})
+                        length($options->{suite})
                         ? '?archive(' . $options->{suite} . '),'
                         : ''
                       )
@@ -2161,209 +2159,6 @@ sub run_download() {
                 ],
                 %result
             });
-    } elsif (
-        any { $_ eq $options->{variant} }
-        ('standard', 'important', 'required', 'minbase', 'buildd')
-    ) {
-        # In the future, after bug https://bugs.debian.org/989558 is fixed, we
-        # want to use apt patterns to select the packages to install:
-        #
-        # ?narrow(?archive(unstable),?architecture(amd64),?priority(important))
-        #
-        # Once this is possible, we can append above statement to the apt-get
-        # install call in run_download() instead of assembling the package list
-        # here and passing it through all the way. Then this function only
-        # takes care of retrieving the essential packages.
-        #
-        # https://salsa.debian.org/apt-team/apt/-/merge_requests/185
-        my %ess_pkgs;
-        my %ess_pkgs_target;
-        my %pkgs_to_install_target = %pkgs_to_install;
-        my $num_suite_matches      = 0;
-        my $num_suite_mismatch     = 0;
-        open(
-            my $pipe_apt,
-            '-|',
-            'apt-get',
-            'indextargets',
-            '--format',
-            ('$(CODENAME)' . "\t" . '$(SUITE)' . "\t" . '$(FILENAME)'),
-            'Created-By: Packages'
-        ) or error "cannot start apt-get indextargets: $!";
-        while (my $line = <$pipe_apt>) {
-            chomp $line;
-            my ($codename, $suite, $fname) = split /\t/, $line, 3;
-            debug "processing indextarget output for $codename $suite $fname";
-            my $suite_matches = 0;
-            if (
-                defined $options->{suite}
-                and
-                ($options->{suite} eq $codename or $options->{suite} eq $suite)
-            ) {
-                $suite_matches = 1;
-                $num_suite_matches++;
-            } else {
-                $num_suite_mismatch++;
-            }
-            open(my $pipe_cat, '-|', '/usr/lib/apt/apt-helper', 'cat-file',
-                $fname)
-              or error "cannot start apt-helper cat-file: $!";
-
-            my $pkgname;
-            my $ess  = '';
-            my $prio = 'optional';
-            my $arch = '';
-            while (my $line = <$pipe_cat>) {
-                chomp $line;
-                # Dpkg::Index takes 10 seconds to parse a typical Packages
-                # file. Thus we instead use a simple parser that just retrieve
-                # the information we need.
-                if ($line ne "") {
-                    if ($line =~ /^Package: (.*)/) {
-                        $pkgname = $1;
-                    } elsif ($line =~ /^Essential: yes$/) {
-                        $ess = 'yes';
-                    } elsif ($line =~ /^Priority: (.*)/) {
-                        $prio = $1;
-                    } elsif ($line =~ /^Architecture: (.*)/) {
-                        $arch = $1;
-                    }
-                    next;
-                }
-                # we are only interested of packages of native architecture or
-                # Architecture:all
-                if ($arch eq $options->{nativearch} or $arch eq 'all') {
-                    # the line is empty, thus a package stanza just finished
-                    # processing and we can handle it now
-                    if ($ess eq 'yes') {
-                        $ess_pkgs{$pkgname} = ();
-                        if ($suite_matches) {
-                            $ess_pkgs_target{$pkgname} = ();
-                        }
-                    } elsif ($options->{variant} eq 'essential') {
-                        # for this variant we are only interested in the
-                        # essential packages
-                    } elsif (
-                        any { $_ eq $options->{variant} } (
-                            'standard', 'important', 'required', 'buildd',
-                            'minbase'
-                        )
-                    ) {
-                        if ($prio eq 'optional' or $prio eq 'extra') {
-                            # always ignore packages of priority optional and
-                            # extra
-                        } elsif ($prio eq 'standard') {
-                            if (
-                                none { $_ eq $options->{variant} }
-                                ('important', 'required', 'buildd', 'minbase')
-                            ) {
-                                $pkgs_to_install{$pkgname} = ();
-                                if ($suite_matches) {
-                                    $pkgs_to_install_target{$pkgname} = ();
-                                }
-                            }
-                        } elsif ($prio eq 'important') {
-                            if (
-                                none { $_ eq $options->{variant} }
-                                ('required', 'buildd', 'minbase')
-                            ) {
-                                $pkgs_to_install{$pkgname} = ();
-                                if ($suite_matches) {
-                                    $pkgs_to_install_target{$pkgname} = ();
-                                }
-                            }
-                        } elsif ($prio eq 'required') {
-                            # required packages are part of all sets except
-                            # essential and apt
-                            $pkgs_to_install{$pkgname} = ();
-                            if ($suite_matches) {
-                                $pkgs_to_install_target{$pkgname} = ();
-                            }
-                        } else {
-                            error "unknown priority: $prio";
-                        }
-                    } else {
-                        error "unknown variant: $options->{variant}";
-                    }
-                }
-                # reset values
-                undef $pkgname;
-                $ess  = '';
-                $prio = 'optional';
-                $arch = '';
-            }
-
-            close $pipe_cat;
-            $? == 0 or error "apt-helper cat-file failed: $?";
-        }
-        close $pipe_apt;
-        $? == 0 or error "apt-get indextargets failed: $?";
-
-        # We now have two package sets, %pkgs_to_install and
-        # %pkgs_to_install_target, where the latter was only filled if the
-        # suite matched the codename or the suite name of one of the given
-        # apt indices.
-        # We only need to bother with this distinction if one or more of the
-        # indices matched and one or more of the indices mismatched. If either
-        # nothing matched or all matched, then we can just use %pkgs_to_install
-        if (    defined $options->{suite}
-            and $num_suite_matches > 0
-            and $num_suite_mismatch > 0) {
-            # Now we know that some matched and some didn't. But we only
-            # replace the results from all indices with the results from those
-            # indices that matched if the results are actually different and
-            # if there is more than zero packages from the indices that matched
-            if (scalar keys %ess_pkgs_target > 0
-                and keys %ess_pkgs != %ess_pkgs_target) {
-                info(   "multiple sources defined, using those matching "
-                      . "'$options->{suite}' to find essential packages");
-                %ess_pkgs = %ess_pkgs_target;
-            }
-            if (scalar keys %pkgs_to_install_target > 0
-                and keys %pkgs_to_install != keys %pkgs_to_install_target) {
-                if ($options->{variant} eq 'essential') {
-                    error "logic error";
-                } elsif (
-                    any { $_ eq $options->{variant} }
-                    ('standard', 'important', 'required', 'buildd', 'minbase')
-                ) {
-                    info(   "multiple sources defined -- using those matching "
-                          . "'$options->{suite}' to find packages for variant "
-                          . "'$options->{variant}'");
-                    %pkgs_to_install = %pkgs_to_install_target;
-                } else {
-                    error "unknown variant: $options->{variant}";
-                }
-            }
-        }
-
-        debug "Identified the following Essential:yes packages:";
-        foreach my $pkg (sort keys %ess_pkgs) {
-            debug "   $pkg";
-        }
-
-        my %result = ();
-        if ($options->{dryrun}) {
-            info "simulate downloading packages with apt...";
-        } else {
-            # if there are already packages in /var/cache/apt/archives/, we
-            # need to use our proxysolver to obtain the solution chosen by apt
-            if (scalar @cached_debs > 0) {
-                $result{EDSP_RES} = \@dl_debs;
-            }
-            info "downloading packages with apt...";
-        }
-        run_apt_progress({
-                ARGV => [
-                    'apt-get',
-                    '--yes',
-                    '-oApt::Get::Download-Only=true',
-                    $options->{dryrun} ? '-oAPT::Get::Simulate=true' : (),
-                    'install'
-                ],
-                PKGS => [keys %ess_pkgs],
-                %result
-            });
     } else {
         error "unknown variant: $options->{variant}";
     }
@@ -2433,7 +2228,7 @@ sub run_download() {
     # list before returning it.
     @essential_pkgs = sort @essential_pkgs;
 
-    return ([keys %pkgs_to_install], \@essential_pkgs, \@cached_debs);
+    return (\@essential_pkgs, \@cached_debs);
 }
 
 sub run_extract() {
@@ -2875,12 +2670,51 @@ sub run_essential() {
 }
 
 sub run_install() {
-    my $options         = shift;
+    my $options   = shift;
-    my $pkgs_to_install = shift;
+    my $chrootcmd = shift;
-    my $chrootcmd       = shift;
+
+    my %pkgs_to_install;
+    for my $incl (@{ $options->{include} }) {
+        for my $pkg (split /[,\s]+/, $incl) {
+            # strip leading and trailing whitespace
+            $pkg =~ s/^\s+|\s+$//g;
+            # skip if the remainder is an empty string
+            if ($pkg eq '') {
+                next;
+            }
+            $pkgs_to_install{$pkg} = ();
+        }
+    }
+    if ($options->{variant} eq 'buildd') {
+        $pkgs_to_install{'build-essential'} = ();
+    }
+    if (
+        any { $_ eq $options->{variant} }
+        ('required', 'important', 'standard', 'buildd')
+    ) {
+        my $priority;
+        if (any { $_ eq $options->{variant} } ('required', 'buildd')) {
+            $priority = '?priority(required)';
+        } elsif ($options->{variant} eq 'important') {
+            $priority = '?or(?priority(required),?priority(important))';
+        } elsif ($options->{variant} eq 'standard') {
+            $priority = '?or(~prequired,~pimportant,~pstandard)';
+        }
+        $pkgs_to_install{
+            "?narrow("
+              . (
+                length($options->{suite})
+                ? '?archive(' . $options->{suite} . '),'
+                : ''
+              )
+              . "?architecture($options->{nativearch}),"
+              . "$priority)"
+        } = ();
+    }
+    my @pkgs_to_install = keys %pkgs_to_install;
 
     if ($options->{mode} eq 'chrootless') {
-        if (scalar @{$pkgs_to_install} > 0) {
+        if (scalar @pkgs_to_install > 0) {
             my @chrootless_opts = (
                 '-oDPkg::Options::=--force-not-root',
                 '-oDPkg::Options::=--force-script-chrootless',
@@ -2891,7 +2725,7 @@ sub run_install() {
             );
             run_apt_progress({
                 ARGV => ['apt-get', '--yes', @chrootless_opts, 'install'],
-                PKGS => $pkgs_to_install,
+                PKGS => [@pkgs_to_install],
             });
         }
     } elsif (
@@ -2899,7 +2733,7 @@ sub run_install() {
         ('root', 'unshare', 'fakechroot', 'proot')
     ) {
         if ($options->{variant} ne 'custom'
-            and scalar @{$pkgs_to_install} > 0) {
+            and scalar @pkgs_to_install > 0) {
             # Advantage of running apt on the outside instead of inside the
             # chroot:
             #
@@ -2945,7 +2779,7 @@ sub run_install() {
                                     '--yes',
                                     'install'
                                 ],
-                                PKGS => $pkgs_to_install,
+                                PKGS => [@pkgs_to_install],
                             });
                     },
                     $options
@@ -2958,7 +2792,7 @@ sub run_install() {
                             'apt-get',                   '--yes',
                             '-oAPT::Get::Simulate=true', 'install'
                         ],
-                        PKGS => $pkgs_to_install,
+                        PKGS => [@pkgs_to_install],
                     });
             }
         }
@@ -3960,6 +3794,9 @@ sub get_keyring_by_suite {
 
     my $debianvendor;
     my $ubuntuvendor;
+    # make $@ local, so we don't print "Can't locate Dpkg/Vendor/Debian.pm"
+    # in other parts where we evaluate $@
+    local $@ = '';
     eval {
         require Dpkg::Vendor::Debian;
         require Dpkg::Vendor::Ubuntu;
@@ -4079,6 +3916,9 @@ sub get_sourceslist_by_suite {
         # https://lists.debian.org/87r26wqr2a.fsf@43-1.org
         my $bullseye_or_later = 0;
         my $distro_info       = '/usr/share/distro-info/debian.csv';
+        # make $@ local, so we don't print "Can't locate Debian/DistroInfo.pm"
+        # in other parts where we evaluate $@
+        local $@ = '';
         eval { require Debian::DistroInfo; };
         if (!$@) {
             # libdistro-info-perl is installed
@@ -4305,9 +4145,20 @@ sub main() {
         'h|help' => sub { pod2usage(-exitval => 0, -verbose => 1) },
         'man'    => sub { pod2usage(-exitval => 0, -verbose => 2) },
         'version' => sub { print STDOUT "mmdebstrap $VERSION\n"; exit 0; },
-        'components=s@'    => \$options->{components},
+        'components=s@' => \$options->{components},
-        'variant=s'        => \$options->{variant},
+        'variant=s'     => \$options->{variant},
-        'include=s@'       => \$options->{include},
+        'include=s'     => sub {
+            my ($opt_name, $opt_value) = @_;
+            for my $pkg (split /[,\s]+/, $opt_value) {
+                # strip leading and trailing whitespace
+                $pkg =~ s/^\s+|\s+$//g;
+                # skip if the remainder is an empty string
+                if ($pkg eq '') {
+                    next;
+                }
+                push @{ $options->{include} }, $pkg;
+            }
+        },
         'architectures=s@' => \$options->{architectures},
         'mode=s'           => \$options->{mode},
         'dpkgopt=s@'       => \$options->{dpkgopts},
@@ -4430,6 +4281,10 @@ sub main() {
     if (any { $_ eq $options->{variant} } ('-', 'debootstrap')) {
         $options->{variant} = 'important';
     }
+    # minbase is an alias for required
+    if ($options->{variant} eq 'minbase') {
+        $options->{variant} = 'required';
+    }
 
     # fakeroot is an alias for fakechroot
     if ($options->{mode} eq 'fakeroot') {
@@ -4519,8 +4374,8 @@ sub main() {
             and $content =~ /^apt ([0-9]+\.[0-9]+\.[0-9]+) \([a-z0-9-]+\)$/m) {
             $aptversion = version->new($1);
         }
-        if ($aptversion < "2.3.7") {
+        if ($aptversion < "2.3.10") {
-            error "need apt >= 2.3.7 but have $aptversion";
+            error "need apt >= 2.3.10 but have $aptversion";
         }
     }
 
@@ -6152,9 +6007,9 @@ option depends on the selected variant. The B<extract> and B<custom> variants
 install no packages by default, so for these variants, the packages specified
 by this option will be the only ones that get either extracted or installed by
 dpkg, respectively.  For all other variants, apt is used to install the
-additional packages. Package names are directly passed to
+additional packages. Package names are directly passed to apt and thus, you
-apt and thus, you can use apt features like C<pkg/suite>, C<pkg=version>,
+can use apt features like C<pkg/suite>, C<pkg=version>, C<pkg->, use a glob or
-C<pkg-> or use a glob or regex for C<pkg>. See apt(8) for the supported
+regex for C<pkg> or use apt patterns. See apt(8) for the supported
 syntax. The option can be specified multiple times and the packages are
 concatenated in the order in which they are given on the command line. If
 later list items are repeated, then they get dropped so that the resulting
@@ -6461,8 +6316,10 @@ All package sets also include the direct and indirect hard dependencies (but
 not recommends) of the selected package sets. The variants B<minbase>,
 B<buildd> and B<->, resemble the package sets that debootstrap would install
 with the same I<--variant> argument. The release with a name matching the
-I<SUITE> argument will be used to determine the C<Essential:yes> and priority
+I<SUITE> argument as well as the native architecture will be used to determine
-values.
+the C<Essential:yes> and priority values. To select packages with matching
+priority from any suite, specify the empty string for I<SUITE>. The default
+variant is B<debootstrap>.
 
 =over 8
 
@@ -6489,19 +6346,30 @@ The B<essential> set plus apt.
 =item B<required>, B<minbase>
 
 The B<essential> set plus all packages with Priority:required and apt.
+It is roughly equivalent to running mmdebstrap with
+
+    --variant=essential --include="?priority(required)"
 
 =item B<buildd>
 
 The B<minbase> set plus build-essential.
+It is roughly equivalent to running mmdebstrap with
+
+    --variant=essential --include="?priority(required),build-essential"
 
 =item B<important>, B<debootstrap>, B<->
 
 The B<required> set plus all packages with Priority:important. This is the
-default of debootstrap.
+default of debootstrap. It is roughly equivalent to running mmdebstrap with
+
+    --variant=essential --include="~prequired|~pimportant"
 
 =item B<standard>
 
 The B<important> set plus all packages with Priority:standard.
+It is roughly equivalent to running mmdebstrap with
+
+    --variant=essential --include="~prequired|~pimportant|~pstandard"
 
 =back
 
@@ -6979,6 +6847,17 @@ Create a system that can be used with podman:
     root
     $ podman rmi debian
 
+As a docker/podman replacement:
+
+    $ mmdebstrap unstable | mmtarfilter --path-exclude='/dev/*' > chroot.tar
+    [...]
+    $ mmdebstrap --variant=custom --skip=update \
+        --setup-hook='tar-in chroot.tar /' \
+        --customize-hook='chroot "$1" whoami' unstable /dev/null
+    [...]
+    root
+    $ rm chroot.tar
+
 =head1 ENVIRONMENT VARIABLES
 
 =over 8