Re: [gentoo-dev] Reminder on dependencies.

[Ned Ludd <solar@gentoo.org>]

On Mon, 2005-10-24 at 21:37 -0700, Donnie Berkholz wrote:
> -----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE-----
> Hash: SHA1
> 
> Spider (D.m.D. Lj.) wrote:
> | If your package, libFoo,  installs .h files that directly require header
> | files from libBar, then you have a Runtime dependency on libBar, not
> | only a compile time dependency
> |
> |
> | Why?   Because libFoo should be usable at runtime, even for compiling
> | things not managed by our tree. And if   BazPack has a configure check,
> | requires explicitly  libFoo,  tests for the presence of said header, and
> | all checks out.. Then BazPack should be able to work,  and libFoo's
> | header certainly shouldn't be broken for use in compile.
> 

> Now, the other side of the story. It's not true runtime dependence
> because it's not required for programs to run, only to compile. And the
> way I see it, things required for programs to compile are by definition
> DEPEND rather than RDEPEND.

exactly.

> The consequences of the two sides are like this, from what I can see:
> 
> 1) Headers are run-time and build-time deps
> 
> - - Headers have to be installed even when you're using purely binary
> packages, because they are supposedly needed at "runtime" for your
> packages to work.
> 
> - - Also, header packages can't be uninstalled after the build via
> depclean because they're specified as run-time dependencies.
> 


> 2) Headers are build-time deps only
> 
> - - Binary packages don't require the header packages.
> 
> - - Header packages can be unmerged after builds.
> 
> - - Packages requiring the headers have to DEPEND on them directly,
> because DEPENDs don't cascade. (Although this brings to mind the concept
> of some sort of cascadable DEPEND.)
> 
> 
> I'd like to hear what some other people think about this.

Well put Donnie. 

--

emerge -B virtual/libc busybox
ROOT=/mnt/foo emerge -K virtual/libc busybox

# if this were to pull in linux-headers on the second step into the 
$ROOT then all embedded support would be shot.

+1 vote to ignore Spiders mail and revert such changes that put headers 
in rdeps as it has undesirable side effects to existing supported 
projects.


-- 
Ned Ludd <solar@gentoo.org>

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