How to announce new optional dependencies? [was: What KDE would like distributions to do]

[Thomas Pfeiffer]

On Dienstag, 22. März 2016 10:07:12 CET Richard Brown wrote:

> > > because of non-linux platforms
> > >       - We expect Linux distributions to fulfill them
> > 
> > Then new dependencies should be communicated in advance, or when the
> > tarballs 
> > are made ready for a new (beta) release. Sometimes it's guesswork, or
> > checking 
> > the CMake output, which is not ideal with automated build systems.
> 
> If you go the route of putting even more logic in CMake, please only do
> so with strong, clear, advance dependency communication in conjunction
> with this change.
> 
> It's really a lot of hard work to retroactively figure this stuff out,
> especially when you consider openSUSE does not ship only KDE, and we
> have to work with many projects to make sure we can find some way of
> making all of their dependencies working together.

It seems like the best way to satisfy the needs of both sides is to work out 
how to best communicate which optional dependencies should be included under 
which circumstances.

Since we have representatives of several distributions on this list, a good 
way to start this would be to discuss what information you need, when and 
through which channel.

If we can find a way automate the communication process, great, but we should 
be open to all options.

So, it would be great if we could start gathering the requirements from the 
distributions' side.

Cheers,
Thomas