On Wednesday 05 of November 2014 09:56:04 Johannes Meixner wrote:
Usually we had to use "Requires: foo" for dependency relations that were actually only "Recommends: foo" because otherwise we got bug reports from users that "it does not work" when functionality that is not mandatory but expected to be there was not available because another package "foo" was not (automatically) installed.
This means when packaging software for a distribution that does not support weak RPM dependencies, the usual way is "Requires: foo" because it is better to satisfy usual end-user expectations than making experts happy who enjoy to have a mininmal system.
I'm afraid I can't agree with this. I believe it is much worse to enforce unnecessary strong dependencies, force people to break them and face complications on every update.
I think even nowadays there are still packages in openSUSE where "Requires: foo" is used instead of "Recommends: foo".
IMHO those should be fixed.
For an example where "Requires" was falsely requested see https://bugzilla.opensuse.org/show_bug.cgi?id=776080#c38 and my explanation why "Recommends" must be use whenever possible https://bugzilla.opensuse.org/show_bug.cgi?id=776080#c39 https://bugzilla.opensuse.org/show_bug.cgi?id=776080#c40 excerpt: -------------------------------------------------------------------- Keep RPM Requires as small as possible - i.e. only what is really mandatory to let the software run - and specify all what is optional (i.e. what is not really mandatory) as RPM Recommends. --------------------------------------------------------------------
My point exactly.
Bottom line: When packaging software for a distribution that does not support weak RPM dependencies, the usual way is "Requires: foo".
And this is where we differ. In general, I believe, users should not be punished for learning more and understanding how things work. Feeling something is broken while just a package is missing is something that can be helped with user learning more; having to break invalid strong dependencies can't. And seeing distribution making your life hard only to make life of uninformed users tiny bit easier is really frustrating. Michal Kubeček -- To unsubscribe, e-mail: opensuse-packaging+unsubscribe@opensuse.org To contact the owner, e-mail: opensuse-packaging+owner@opensuse.org