Package Dependcies List on Techbase

[Rick Stockton]

Please excuse the Top-Post, my suggestion is VERY short:
The terminology "Optional Dependency" sounds like a good term for these 
situations. (At least to me, a native 'en-us' person.)

On 05/08/2012 06:18 AM, David Jarvie wrote:
> On Tue, May 8, 2012 1:07 pm, Allen Winter wrote:
>>> On Tuesday 08 May 2012 6:55:01 AM David Jarvie wrote:
>>> On Mon, May 7, 2012 4:36 pm, Allen Winter wrote:
>>>> Howdy,
>>>>
>>>> I started putting the list of package dependences (arranged by module)
>>>> onto Techbase.
>>>> http://techbase.kde.org/Getting_Started/Build/Requirements
>>>>
>>>> The tables on the subpages there are generated by a perl program I
>>> wrote.
>>>> That program reads the CMakeLists.txt files inside a module and
>>>> generates wiki content
>>>> I then copy+paste into Techbase.
>>>>
>>>> Please review for accuracy.
>>
>>> 2) Is QtDeclarative actually REQUIRED for kdepim? Isn't it only required
>>> in order to build mobile apps? If so, it should be marked as Optional.
>>> Are there any other dependencies which are similarly marked as Required,
>>> when in fact they are optional?
>>>
>> Well, I'm not planning to write a CMakeLists.txt parser.
>> So I'm not planning to handle CMake conditionals.
>> But I can add hacks as needed.
>>
>> In the case of QtDeclarative, the comment says that it is needed for
>> Mobile.
>> Making sure we have useful comments and descriptions can certainly help
>> too.
> Yes, the comment says that it is for mobile, but "Required" is a strong
> term, and I don't think the comment in its current form makes it clear
> enough that "Required" might not actually mean what it says. In this
> particular example, QtDeclarative will not be needed for someone building
> for the desktop. This will be the default build option for many people, so
> I think it needs to be stated more explicitly that "Required" may actually
> mean "Optional".
>
> I can appreciate that you may not have time to write a parser for cmake
> conditionals. But if conditional dependencies are going to be listed as
> "Required", I think there should be a clear statement at the top of the
> page that "Required" doesn't necessarily mean what it says, and may mean
> optional, depending on what conditional settings are used.
>