Hi Marco,
On Thu, Apr 10, 2025 at 11:01:24AM +0200, Marco d'Itri wrote: > On Apr 10, Helmut Grohne <hel...@subdivi.de> wrote: > > how about libc6-dev stops depending on libcrypt-dev? > Sure. Thanks for the feedback. > > material of course. Also libc6-dev would still "Recommends: > > libcrypt-dev", but libcrypt-dev would no longer be build-essential. > What purpose would this Recommends solve? My thinking here was to reduce the annoyance for users by degrading the dependency softly. I was told that some users expect to be able to build perl extensions without installing libperl-dev (which is why libperlVER contains the headers that #include <crypt.h>). If we were right dropping the dependency, libcrypt-dev could be automatically be removed from those systems and we'd get angry bug reports. Going to Recommends is a means to limit the annoyance while still meeting the original goal. This is not to be read as an endorsement of libc6-dev permanently recommending libcrypt-dev. For instance downgrading it to Suggests or dropping it entirely could be an option for later. To me, the key feature here is making it removable in the first place. In any case, I'll leave this particular aspect to the glibc and libxcrypt maintainers. If you feel, Recommends is not warranted, so be it. Helmut
