Re: Separating graphics/inkscape and its heavyweight extensions - or other ways to make numpy less heavweight?

[Taylor R Campbell <campbell+netbsd-tech-pkg%mumble.net@localhost>]

> Date: Mon, 12 Dec 2022 12:41:39 +0000
> From: Robert Swindells <rjs%fdy2.co.uk@localhost>
> 
> I have been building inkscape with the include of py-numpy commented out
> in the pkgsrc Makefile, don't see any errors.
> 
> Maybe just add 'numpy' as a pkg option.

Options are a last resort for users who are building custom pkgsrc
applications; they are unusable for binary package users and nobody
should reach for them unless all alternatives have been definitively
exhausted.

1. Is any numpy-enabled functionality baked into the Inkscape build at
   compile-time, e.g. through linkage to libraries, or can it be
   included separately?

2. Are the plugins that use the numpy-enabled functionality an
   essential part of Inkscape or can they be distributed separately?

If these can be done separately, they probably should be done that way
instead of using an option.

(The details of the significance of the plugins to Inkscape determines
whether this should be a graphics/inkscape-base vs meta-pkgs/inkscape
pair or a graphics/inkscape vs graphics/inkscape-plugins pair.)