[ On Wednesday, August 20, 2003 at 06:31:36 (-0400), Sean Davis wrote: ]
> Subject: Re: lightweight groff package?
>
> I am forced to agree here. There are so many packages that add a huge number
> of dependencies that they don't really need, and that just makes keeping
> packages up to date more of a PITA than it already is.

The additional dependencies -- i.e. the making use of additional
features in a package which require other packages to fully implement --
is not the problem.  The problem is that those dependencies are run-time
dependencies, not build-time dependencies.

I've demonstrated that only using static libraries from other packages
and turning all those run-time dependencies into build-time dependencies
pretty much elimiates all the hassle and overhead of trying to update
packages without de-installing and re-installing pretty much everything.

I.e. it is fair to blame the use of poorly implemented shared libraries
in this case; but it is not fair to blame these problems on the fact
that packages often need other third party packages to implement full
functionality.

-- 
						Greg A. Woods

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