In reply to @3plexdev:matrix.org
Hi Fernando Rodrigues: please I’d like to ask if you have a timeline set for the reproducible build project? It’s states here that we should work with our mentors to provide a timeline for the work

In reply to @sigmasquadron:matrix.org
This is a bit difficult to answer at this point because we aren't yet sure if we'll be able to assign the intern with a certain special project, and because each r13y issue varies wildly in complexity and scope. For now, check the calendar and simply tell Outreachy that the internship begins in the second day of June and has a second part beginning July 15. You'll be assigned various issues and are expected to research the inner workings of third-party applications for 30h/week to hopefully fix a number of unreproducible packages.

In reply to @guider-le-recit:matrix.org
Apologies for the delayed update on this, in essence I modified the libpinyin source (ngram_bdb.cpp, chewing_large_table2_bdb.cpp, phrase_large_table3_bdb.cpp, punct_table_bdb.cpp) to add a DB set_flags(handle, DB_TXN_NOT_DURABLE) call immediately after db_create() and before DB open() for all database handles used during index generation.
However, attempting to build failed during the make process when running gen_binary_files. The build log showed: ''BDB1566 DB_NOT_DURABLE interface requires an environment configured for the transaction subsystem''

Given that DB_TXN_NOT_DURABLE did not work, I reverted those changes and went back to test the difference between access methods. I modified only ngram_bdb.cpp to change the bigram.db file type from DB_HASH to DB_BTREE in all its DB open calls.
The build completed this time, but the reproducibility check (--check) still failed. Running diffoscope showed that while bigram.db is now reported as a B-Tree file, it exhibits the exact same header difference pattern around offset 0x34 as all the other B-Tree files

I did not want to try refractoring a DB ENV, so I tried looking if there where any flags i missed that could handle this, there aren't any but instead I found that the problematic region starting at 0x34 corresponds to a 20-byte uid field within the common DBMETA structure
(https://github.com/zvelo/BerkeleyDB/blob/master/src/dbinc/db_page.h)
This uid is an apperantly inherently non-deterministic unique file identifier generated by BDB during database creation, influenced by runtime factors potentially including ASLR. BDB docs confirms there are no API flags controllable via DB->set_flags() on standalone handles to suppress or stabilize this uid generation.

I guess it seems that, the non-reproducibility affecting all generated BDB files stem directly from this volatile uid field. At this point i am tired and not sure what to do next

In reply to @guider-le-recit:matrix.org
Apologies for the delayed update on this, in essence I modified the libpinyin source (ngram_bdb.cpp, chewing_large_table2_bdb.cpp, phrase_large_table3_bdb.cpp, punct_table_bdb.cpp) to add a DB set_flags(handle, DB_TXN_NOT_DURABLE) call immediately after db_create() and before DB open() for all database handles used during index generation.
However, attempting to build failed during the make process when running gen_binary_files. The build log showed: ''BDB1566 DB_NOT_DURABLE interface requires an environment configured for the transaction subsystem''

Given that DB_TXN_NOT_DURABLE did not work, I reverted those changes and went back to test the difference between access methods. I modified only ngram_bdb.cpp to change the bigram.db file type from DB_HASH to DB_BTREE in all its DB open calls.
The build completed this time, but the reproducibility check (--check) still failed. Running diffoscope showed that while bigram.db is now reported as a B-Tree file, it exhibits the exact same header difference pattern around offset 0x34 as all the other B-Tree files

I did not want to try refractoring a DB ENV, so I tried looking if there where any flags i missed that could handle this, there aren't any but instead I found that the problematic region starting at 0x34 corresponds to a 20-byte uid field within the common DBMETA structure
(https://github.com/zvelo/BerkeleyDB/blob/master/src/dbinc/db_page.h)
This uid is an apperantly inherently non-deterministic unique file identifier generated by BDB during database creation, influenced by runtime factors potentially including ASLR. BDB docs confirms there are no API flags controllable via DB->set_flags() on standalone handles to suppress or stabilize this uid generation.

I guess it seems that, the non-reproducibility affecting all generated BDB files stem directly from this volatile uid field. At this point i am tired and not sure what to do next