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On 8/15/2025 5:38 PM, Joe Locash ([email protected] via blfs-support
Mailing List) wrote:
> libqtxdg isn't a required dependency of libnotify.
Yes, it is. At least as far as I'm concerned. You guys are not seeing
the picture here. I look at recommended runtime requirements as packages
that must be built. In my mind, recommended dependencies are the same as
required dependencies. It was that way when I was an active BLFS editor
and reading the quote below reaffirms the way I think now. Here's what
the book says about dependencies:
"Required Dependencies
<snip> If a dependency is said to be “runtime,” it is not needed for
building the package, **but only to use it after installation**.
Recommended Dependencies
If a recommended dependency is not said to be “runtime,” package
installation instructions **assume it is installed**. <snip> A
recommended “runtime” dependency does not need to be installed before
building the package, but **must** be built afterwards for running the
package with reasonable capabilities."
The **emphasis** in the quote above is mine.
Both required and recommended descriptions about runtime dependencies
infer that the package is going to be required sooner or later. My
approach is sooner. If it's going to be required down the line, I just
go ahead and install the package. I install runtime dependencies as I
see them in the book. It should not matter to BLFS editors when a
package is installed or what it will be used for. The fundamental
purpose of BLFS back in my day was to expand the knowledge gaining
process of LFS while creating a system that fulfills the user's needs.
The important LFS philosophy of "Your Way" should always be respected
and endorsed. Presenting facts and information about the packages is as
important as creating instructions to provide a stable build.
Now, with that in mind I'd like to try and explain my thought process to
y'all. I do not yet know what type of desktop environment I'm going to
use (or if I will even want to go there actually) as I used KDE in the
past but ending up launching FireFox and Thunderbird from the command
line more often than not. I've been working on terminal type interfaces
since MS-DOS was born and the earlier days of HP-UX, Solaris, AIX, SCO
and even older operating systems. My first job in the IT industry was
centered around HP MPE running on an HP-3000 machine that had external
hard disks as big as washing machines. Working from a text based
terminal type environment is just second nature to me.
Now to the issue at hand. I have a need for the WebKitGTK package. It
should not matter to the BLFS team what a user/reader wants or needs the
package for, only that he/she wants to build it. The name of the package
and the brief description in the book leads one to believe that the
package probably provides useful functionality, which in itself might be
enough to install it. It has a recommended runtime dependency of
GeoClue, which also sounds like it could be useful. So I decide to build it.
Geoclue has a recommended dependency of libnotify. So it must be built.
libnotify has three required runtime dependencies, and because I don't
yet know what the eventual purpose of this system is, I decide to
install all three of them. So that brings me to lxqt-notificationd. To
build this package I must install liblxqt. To build liblxqt I must
install libqtxdg.
Here's where it got fun. After ensuring that all the dependencies were
installed, I tried to build libqtxdg and it failed due to the reason
this thread exists. So you see that there really is a need to be a bit
more creative when listing dependencies. There's never too much
information if it's factual and pertinent. Just a simple parenthetical
blurb like (required as you may not be building the LXQt desktop in the
order prescribed by BLFS) after the lxqt2-build-tools required
dependency would be useful information.
> You're probably
> trying to build lxqt-notifcationd and getting sucked down the rabbit hole.
If that's what you want to call it. My approach is apparently different
than how the BLFS team perceives the book should be used/read. Bruce did
mention that it wouldn't hurt to list the required package in the
libqtxdg instructions, and I agree.
> The required runtime dependencies for libnotify are notification-daemon,
> xfce4-notifyd, or lxqt-notificationd. An emphasis should be placed on
> the or.
The or should not matter one bit. What if a user wanted to test out LXQt
and Xfce side-by-side on the same machine?
> Since your doing this for geoclue you're probably building gnome. Just
> build notification-daemon and you should be fine.
But what if I want to build Gnome, LXQt, and XFCE all on the system some
time in the future. I like to know that required and recommended runtime
dependencies are built for all the packages I install. Perhaps that's
just me being a tad bit anal in my package building process. Old habit
that stems from my time on the BLFS team. I always tried to have as many
dependencies installed on my test systems as possible, as that provides
better confidence that there won't be package breakage on some
user/reader down the road.
If you've got this far, I appreciate your patience reading my rant. It
brings back old memories.
--
Randy
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