Bug#1131498: libreoffice: Don't have language packages install libreoffice-common & libreoffice-core

Hi,

Am 22.03.26 um 17:15 schrieb Jeremy Bícha:
> On Sun, Mar 22, 2026 at 4:18 AM Rene Engelhard <[email protected]> wrote:
>>> This is bad for Phosh because it would pull in
>>> both libreoffice-common and libreoffice-core which total more than 200
>>> MB without considering other dependencies. Is it possible to remove
>>> libreoffice-common and libreoffice-core from the Depends and
>>> Recommends of the libreoffice-l10n-* packages?
>> And have libreoffice-l10n-* installed without libreoffice itself? How
>> much sense does that make?
>>
>> Won't do that. The only tning I would be willing to do is to make it a
>> Recommends:. As with apts default that will be installed too, though,
>> which is what we usually want, but which probably won't help for your
>> wish as it will be pulled in anyway?
> It allows someone to install a Debian desktop with French and get a
> 4MB package (libreoffice-l10n-fr) installed without the 200 MB needed
> for libreoffice-common and libreoffice-core If they don't have
> libreoffice installed.

Someone can do that. They just don't need to install via tasks.


And if they don't want libreoffice they don't need to install libreoffice-l10n-fr anyways.

The whole task system is just helping people. It's not a requirement.

> When they install libreoffice, it will automatically support French immediately.

Not in the past, in the past it even would have broken (see below)

> What is the benefit of installing libreoffice-common and
> libreoffice-core? It doesn't include any of the LibreOffice apps.

That is true. But simply because there's no real package to install. There's people who only want (or need!)

-writer, -calc etc so one can not have a package to depend on. Or do you want me to Recommends: libreoffice

(which would even install -base etc. with their Java depends...)


Looking at the history it once was -core only and -common was needed for upgrades/was needed when -l10ns had ucf-managed config files:

https://salsa.debian.org/libreoffice-team/libreoffice/libreoffice/-/commit/7f92eacb5b48fab8f6a8f7a6e184d8850282eda2

[ Note bookworm -> trixie also had even Pre-Depends: to make the upgrade work: https://salsa.debian.org/libreoffice-team/libreoffice/libreoffice/-/commit/70d2b28233b46fceb4987b8795c53cd49d0c384b. Not needed after trixie, though. ]

> If you don't like my proposal, do you have any better way of solving
> Debian's language task metapackage issue?

I don't see an issue to be honest. Maybe a nuisance, yes.

But I believe this "issue" is just made up or at least made bigger as it is.

> urrently, we have
> - task-french (French translations and utilities that don't require a GUI)
> - task-french-desktop (This currently is installed for people who
> install Debian in French, at least with the net installer, **and**
> keep "Debian desktop environment" selected. It installs dictionary and
> thesaurus support. It installs the LibreOffice and Firefox
> translations.)

And

firefox-esr-l10n-fr | firefox-l10n-fr.

I don't see a similar bug filed by you against firefox-esr?

Shouldn't it ideally be consistent?


(Besides the fact that it probably should do chromium...)


Regards,


Rene