Strange / unneeded dependecies

Primoz · 2010-01-21 22:26:05

Sorry this is a bit of rant. But I feel it has to be brought up (if it hasn't been already, I did a quick search nothing came up similar to this).
So I was "cleaning" my Arch and I saw that there are a lot of things that I really don't need, but are still installed...
Like lirc-utils and cups (and many other to..).
So anyway the problem is that lirc-utils (Infra red remote control) is a dependency of vlc. Why? I don't have a infra red remote control. And even if vlc has support for it, I don't need it.
I know I can do pacman -Rd and it's gone. But still why is it dependency in the first place anyway?

And cups, I don't have a printer so why do I need cups and libcups? Why is libcups needed by gtk2 and why is gtk2 needed by so many other packages, I'm using KDE I shouldn't even have gtk2 installed.

So anyway are all dependacies really needed or not? Can some be made in optional?
I know I could use abs and edit PKGBUILD and remove dependancies, but I use testing so some packages like vlc can't be build with abs...

(Mods if you think this can't get anywhere you can move it to TGN; I won't mind.)

flamelab · 2010-01-21 22:33:23

If you want so much control on dependencies, you should consider moving to Gentoo ...

The Arch devs and TUs should have a reason for adding these deps, in 99% of the cases, they are surely needed.

Last edited by flamelab (2010-01-21 22:33:56)

anonymous_user · 2010-01-21 22:59:16

You could try asking on Arch mailing lists. The two examples you gave seem strange to me too.

Last edited by anonymous_user (2010-01-21 22:59:39)

jac · 2010-01-21 23:02:21

Or you could try blackpac. Maybe you and the author could work on getting a list of things like this, if you want to improve it or make it easier to remove them.

Allan · 2010-01-21 23:18:23

If you can really remove these packages without linking issues, send a bug report asking for it to be made an optdepends.

tomk · 2010-01-22 00:05:18

In a binary distro, decisions regarding dependencies have to be made at build time.

Primoz wrote:

lirc-utils (Infra red remote control) is a dependency of vlc. Why? I don't have a infra red remote control.

Others do, so the dev included support.

Primoz wrote:

Why is libcups needed by gtk2

So that gtk2 applications can print.

Primoz wrote:

why is gtk2 needed by so many other packages

Because they are gtk2 applications

Primoz wrote:

I'm using KDE I shouldn't even have gtk2 installed.

Remove the gtk2 applications installed on your system.

Primoz wrote:

I use testing so some packages like vlc can't be build with abs...

Incorrect. Just make sure you build against the testing version of any required dependencies.

Primoz · 2010-01-22 09:25:14

jac wrote:

Or you could try blackpac. Maybe you and the author could work on getting a list of things like this, if you want to improve it or make it easier to remove them.

This what I need. I've seen it before but I misinterpreted what it does.
Well I was able to remove both lirc and cups with no apparent problems (for now). So it's not that bad...

Arch Linux

#1 2010-01-21 22:26:05

Strange / unneeded dependecies

#2 2010-01-21 22:33:23

Re: Strange / unneeded dependecies

#3 2010-01-21 22:59:16

Re: Strange / unneeded dependecies

#4 2010-01-21 23:02:21

Re: Strange / unneeded dependecies

#5 2010-01-21 23:18:23

Re: Strange / unneeded dependecies

#6 2010-01-22 00:05:18

Re: Strange / unneeded dependecies

#7 2010-01-22 09:25:14

Re: Strange / unneeded dependecies

Board footer