[arch-dev-public] Split openssl package

[Pierre Schmitz]

On Sun, Nov 22, 2020 at 2:57 AM Eli Schwartz via arch-dev-public
<arch-dev-public at archlinux.org> wrote:
> As I mentioned there, I don't really see the need to make a split
> package just for 25kb of optional scripts that can just use optdepends.
>
> "I tendo o lean towards a separate package instead of using optdepends
> as it is more explicit and you do not end up with partly invalid package."
>
> Do you then propose Arch should switch policies and start using split
> packages everywhere instead of our usual optdepends? Not sure what to
> think here. This feels inconsistent.

First of all, I think using split packages and optdependes are both
reasonable solutions. Splitting a package can be used to either reduce
sizes of individual packages or to reduce dependencies. The latter can
be achieved by optdependes as well. My personal rule of thumb here
would be: If a program cannot work without a given dependent it should
not be optional. In contrast if you have software that e.g. is able to
use several databases for storage but falls back to sqlite one could
declare mysql, postgres etc. as optional as long as the program is
usable without them.

Either way, I would call both solutions to be correct.

Greetings,

Pierre