Arch Linux

torindan2

Member

Registered: 2004-07-15

Posts: 74

Is gcc a REAL dependency ?

Try this on your computer

pacman -Qi gcc

You'll see an output similar with mine :

...
Size           : 95902545
...
Required By    : aspell cdrdao db divx4linux djvulibre dvd+rw-tools fam gettext 
                 gmp groff id3lib j2re libmp4v2 libsigc++2.0 mesa mjpegtools 
                 p7zip pcre povray rar rxvt-unicode slim taglib xorg-font-utils 
                 xorg-server xpdf xulrunner
...

I have no intention to remove gcc from my comuter, but i'm considering to build a very slimmed down instalation with no development tools (maybe even a live cd/usb with archie scripts or some other things that can be found in wiki/forum/google)

And 100M is a little bit too much for something that wouldn't be ever used (if really needed you can always get it with pacman)

My question is gcc a REAL dependency of those packages?
Will they fail to run if gcc is removed, or it's a just a build dependency that slipped to maintainer and should be in makedepends instead of depends in the PKGBUILD?

torindan2

Member

Registered: 2004-07-15

Posts: 74

Re: Is gcc a REAL dependency ?

Actually after running ldd on binaries/libraries from some of those packages i foung that they need libgcc_s.so.1 which comes with gcc.
So the dependency is probably correct.

Somebody knows that for is that library or can be replaced by something lighter like tcc or something else?

torindan2

Member

Registered: 2004-07-15

Posts: 74

Re: Is gcc a REAL dependency ?

Found this http://gcc.gnu.org/onlinedocs/gccint/Libgcc.html
Hmmm....it will be harder then i thought
Any ideas?

smoon

Member

Registered: 2005-08-22

Posts: 468

Website

Re: Is gcc a REAL dependency ?

There's a PKGBUILD for libgcc in AUR. It provides and conflicts with gcc, so you could give it a try...

torindan2

Member

Registered: 2004-07-15

Posts: 74

Re: Is gcc a REAL dependency ?

Thanks, I'll give it a try.

kth5

Member

Registered: 2004-04-29

Posts: 657

Website

Re: Is gcc a REAL dependency ?

it't not only libgcc actually. the gcc package also contains libs such as libstdc++ which are necessary for many C++ driven programs. correct me if i'm wrong abotu this but i think libstdc++ includes map and vector stuff.

---

I recognize that while theory and practice are, in theory, the same, they are, in practice, different. -Mark Mitchell

JGC

Developer

Registered: 2003-12-03

Posts: 1,664

Re: Is gcc a REAL dependency ?

libstdc++ contains the standard C++ library, where libgcc contains most gcc-specific C stuff. You need these two to run most applications, the rest of the gcc package isn't needed on a regular system.

kth5

Member

Registered: 2004-04-29

Posts: 657

Website

Re: Is gcc a REAL dependency ?

libstdc++ contains the standard C++ library, where libgcc contains most gcc-specific C stuff. You need these two to run most applications, the rest of the gcc package isn't needed on a regular system.

which is why i put libgcc on the AUR. I know it's not perfect but it's working for my embedded project where i stuffed xorg7, firefox, wine and xine+codecs on a 256meg compact flash with about 50 megs space left. i'm open to recommendations.

btw, i also remove header files by tarring /usr/*/include on boot, so that i can move them back afterwards if necessary for builds like nvidia.
cool, that arch now has glibc with stripped locales btw, which was an idea i've had for a long time. that altogether adds up to at leats 150megs on a default system such a described above.

---

I recognize that while theory and practice are, in theory, the same, they are, in practice, different. -Mark Mitchell