Why is lastfm a required dependency?

[Leo Franchi]

On Jun 22, 2009, at 4:47 PM, Modestas Vainius wrote:

> Hello,
>
> On 2009 m. June 22 d., Monday 23:19:37 Leo Franchi wrote:
>
>> How can it have an unstable API/ABI if there is only 1 release of the
>> library?
>
> I won't elabote since I don't know the details. I'm just relaying  
> what I
> heard.
>
>> We are using liblastfm as a dependency because:
>>
>> a) Building libraries internally is stupid and just leads to bloat
>
> That's fine.
>
>> b) Sharing code amongst different system processes is a *good thing*.
>
> Yes.
>
>> The next release of the official last.fm player will also be using
>> liblastfm, as will playdar. So this is not a dependency that only
>> Amarok will have. This is rather the official c++/qt last.fm wrapper.
>> We just happen to be the first to publicly depend on it.
>
> You misunderstand me. I have always been in favour of Amarok  
> dropping that
> private liblastfm copy. But you are forgetting Amarok is NOT  
> official last.fm
> player. And last.fm functionality CAN be disabled from Amarok  
> interface. So
> why is this library required? Technical difficulties making it  
> optional?
>
>> Also, please note that this dependency is for 2.2, which is still
>> quite a far ways down the road. So although we are the first to
>> publicly depend on it right now, there are still some months to go
>> before any released version will.
>
> I would rather test Amarok 2.2 without last.fm than wait for  
> something I don't
> really need. As a packager, I would never ship Amarok without optional
> dependency if it could be enabled. If you are afraid somebody is  
> going to
> disable lastfm due to religious reasons, I don't think making the  
> library
> required will stop them.

Your replies in the email were against the argument for/against  
liblastfm being a required dependency, but that is not what I was  
responding to. I was replying to your complaint that amarok "attracts  
many exotic required dependencies"---just to explain how I don't think  
liblastfm is very exotic at all (it just is right right now because  
we're early).

leo