Do not split QML packages
Carl Schwan
carl at carlschwan.eu
Fri Aug 11 15:38:53 BST 2023
Hello,
I just receive yet another bug report about a QML module not being installed by
an user using a Debian based distributions (KDE Neon Unstable). This is caused
by the fact that Kirigami Addons 0.9 added a new module
(org.kde.kirigamiaddons.delegates) and Merkuro and a bunch of other apps in KDE
Gear 23.08 require this module.
Merkuro correctly bumped the dependency in its cmakelists.txt file to depend on
Kirigami Addons 0.9 which should have ensured that the module is installed.
But since some distributions are splitting the kirigami addons in many micro
packages and forgot to add the new module in their dependency list for Merkuro
(and probably other apps), the new required module isn't installed and the app
crash on startup. This is not the first time this happen.
Please do not split Kirigami Addons in many small packages. Kirigami Addons is
meant to be packaged as one single package and some QML modules even depends on
each others. The different QML imports are only for the developer convenience
and should be considered like C++ namespace as something only interesting in
the code.
Kirigami itself will also be spitted in multiple QML modules in KF6 and
similarly this should result in one package and not multiple one.
Sorry for being a bit angry, but I received a lot of reports about this across
years in bugs.kde.org, on Matrix, on Mastodon and even on blog posts. This
gives the user a very bad impression as the application crash on startup and I
find myself in a frustration situation because the packaging of my apps is
outside my reach and I can't fix it myself.
Cheers,
Carl
More information about the Distributions
mailing list