suggests/requires in rpm (was: Re: further package removals/potential package removals)

Jeff Spaleta wrote: I have run into this kind of problem several times (and I've learned packaging only two years ago). For example with showimg (an image viewer), which can use kipi-plugins to add features, or with psi (a jabber client), which can use qca-tls for SSL support. The main objection I got from the RH folks when I proposed some kind of "recommands" before, is that most of the time the dependancies are set at compile-time, and thus are hardcoded. But I think that more and more applications use a plugin system to add features. Those plugins should remain plugins, and thus should not be set as an hardcoded dependancy. But of course, adding such a feature in RPM would need a very large amount of work to be supported properly from rpm to the user's wrappers. Nevertheless, I think "suggests" support could be added in RPM without breaking the wrappers, and complete support could be added later on. The wrapper which do not know of it yet would just ignore it. Would older implementation of RPM just ignore the tag when asked to rebuild a "suggests"-enabled spec file ? It's a lot of work, but I think it is worth it and it can be done one step at a time without breaking existing software. Of course, that's just my 0.02 and I don't know the inner workings of RPM very well. Aurélien -- http://gauret.free.fr ~~~~ Jabber : gauret(a)amessage.info "As we enjoy great advantages from inventions of others, we should be glad of an opportunity to serve others by any invention of ours ; and this we should do freely and generously." -- Benjamin Franklin