To reproduce, set up a project depending on a package with depexts and mess with that package's lockfile so it doesn't build. Dune will give a hint that the failure might be depext-related and print:
Hint: You may want to verify the following depexts are installed:
- depext1
- depext2
However if the combined length of depext names is too short it prints this instead:
Hint: You may want to verify the following depexts are installed:- a
- b