[pacman-dev] Explicit (opt)deps for makepkg.

[Xyne]

Hi,

I think the pacman package should explicitly list makepkg's optional
dependencies, instead of simply assuming the presence of base and
base-devel.

Using a minimal 32-bit chroot, the only way to keep it minimal is to
try to run makepkg and then track down each dependency-related error
one by one until it completes. There is no reason to install a huge
group when only a few of those packages are actually required
(e.g. "file" from "base") and doing so simply leads to unnecessary
downloads and chroot pollution.

The shotgun approach to package installation for makepkg has always
struck me as unminimalistic. I understand that the omission of explicit
dependencies is seen as "simple" by some, but that's probably how the
huge DE devs view their dep chains too.

Maybe "base-devel" could encompass all hard dependencies of makepkg and
nothing more, and then be listed as an optdep for makepkg. Packages
that require anything beyond that should list the additional (build)
deps explicitly.

Thoughts?


Regards,
Xyne