Build instructions are wrong

[mir07]

Adhering to the build instructions in the README file fails utterly when building on Debian Sid.

$ dpkg-buildpackage
dpkg-buildpackage: info: source package xed
dpkg-buildpackage: info: source version 3.8.4
dpkg-buildpackage: info: source distribution zara
dpkg-buildpackage: info: source changed by Clement Lefebvre root@linuxmint.com
dpkg-buildpackage: info: host architecture amd64
dpkg-source --before-build .
debian/rules clean
dh clean --with gir,python3
dh_clean
dpkg-source -b .
dpkg-source: info: using source format '3.0 (native)'
dpkg-source: info: building xed in xed_3.8.4.tar.xz
dpkg-source: info: building xed in xed_3.8.4.dsc
debian/rules binary
dh binary --with gir,python3
dh_update_autotools_config
dh_autoreconf
debian/rules override_dh_auto_configure
make[1]: Entering directory '/home/mir/git/xed'
dh_auto_configure --
-D docs=true
-D deprecated_warnings=false
cd obj-x86_64-linux-gnu && DEB_PYTHON_INSTALL_LAYOUT=deb LC_ALL=C.UTF-8 meson setup .. --wrap-mode=nodownload --buildtype=plain --prefix=/usr --sysconfdir=/etc --localstatedir=/var --libdir=lib/x86_64-linux-gnu -Dpython.bytecompile=-1 -D docs=true -D deprecated_warnings=false
The Meson build system
Version: 1.9.1
Source dir: /home/mir/git/xed
Build dir: /home/mir/git/xed/obj-x86_64-linux-gnu
Build type: native build

ERROR: Invalid source tree: first statement must be a call to project()

A full log can be found at /home/mir/git/xed/obj-x86_64-linux-gnu/meson-logs/meson-log.txt
cd obj-x86_64-linux-gnu && tail -v -n +0 meson-logs/meson-log.txt
==> meson-logs/meson-log.txt <==
Build started at 2025-11-06T12:31:10.196576
Main binary: /usr/bin/python3
Build Options: -Dpython.bytecompile=-1 -Ddocs=true -Ddeprecated_warnings=false -Dprefix=/usr -Dlibdir=lib/x86_64-linux-gnu -Dlocalstatedir=/var -Dsysconfdir=/etc -Dbuildtype=plain -Dwrap_mode=nodownload
Python system: Linux
The Meson build system
Version: 1.9.1
Source dir: /home/mir/git/xed
Build dir: /home/mir/git/xed/obj-x86_64-linux-gnu
Build type: native build

ERROR: Invalid source tree: first statement must be a call to project()
dh_auto_configure: error: cd obj-x86_64-linux-gnu && DEB_PYTHON_INSTALL_LAYOUT=deb LC_ALL=C.UTF-8 meson setup .. --wrap-mode=nodownload --buildtype=plain --prefix=/usr --sysconfdir=/etc --localstatedir=/var --libdir=lib/x86_64-linux-gnu -Dpython.bytecompile=-1 -D docs=true -D deprecated_warnings=false returned exit code 1
make[1]: *** [debian/rules:7: override_dh_auto_configure] Error 255
make[1]: Leaving directory '/home/mir/git/xed'
make: *** [debian/rules:4: binary] Error 2
dpkg-buildpackage: error: debian/rules binary subprocess returned exit status 2