On Mon, Dec 29, 2014 at 6:50 PM, Daniel Micay <danielmicay@gmail.com> wrote:
Arch currently uses optional dependencies even when it means that executables provided by the package aren't going to work with the minimal set of dependencies. The packages could be split up more to avoid this without pulling in more stuff, but it's not what packagers usually choose to it. It's a design choice left up to the packager, not a bug.
Thank you - tribal knowledge that wasn't written down as an acceptable standard to the Arch packaging. I have added your first sentence to a note (and credited you in the comment) so that it's not tribal anymore: https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/PKGBUILD#optdepends The reason this is complicated is anyone who comes into Arch from (most) other distros where this is considered a bug needs to understand Arch doesn't work by the same rules as all the others for binary shared library resolution. I disagree with the SOP, but can leave my opinion at the door. -te