Re: Can we make X11 optional for libvips?

[Hauke Fath <hf%spg.tu-darmstadt.de@localhost>]

On Fri, 31 Oct 2025 14:38:40 -0400, Greg Troxel wrote:
> I too lean towards x11.

Good. I would have gone that way, but it isn't my package, so I thought 
I'd ask.

>  Generally it's better not to have options, and
> in this case the problem is not that the dependencies are bloated, but
> that the system is deficient in that it lacks x11.

I beg to differ on both accounts: Dependencies on 161 packages (x11) 
vs. 100 packages (-x11) is not nothing. And there are perfectly 
legitimate use cases for pkgsrc installations that do not include X11 
and the bloat that packages rope in once they sense they can has 
graphics.

My personal application is two small vps installations that are 
(obviously) headless, and  managed with radmind. Turnaround times and 
volume of an update are so much smaller for a non-X11 build.

But we've been over this before, and will have to agree to disagree.  ;)
 
>  if x11 is broadly used as an option, putting -x11 in default
> options will help a lot.

That is how I use it.

> I'm not sure this has been addressed, but generally when we accomodate
> this sort of request, the default behavior is unchanged, so that there's
> be an x11 option which is default on, and people can turn it off.

That was the plan, yes.

Cheerio,
Hauke

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