Re: Is there a way to specify optional/recommended dependencies?

On 2026-04-20 08:58, Hamish McIntyre-Bhatty via Cygwin-apps wrote:
> Hi all,
> 
> I was wondering if there is a way to specify optional or recommended 
> dependencies for a package with a cygport file. wxPython has some optional 
> dependencies that I'm working on next, and I thought it would be good to mark 
> them as optional or recommended if possible, rather than just adding them as 
> hard dependencies.

Hi Hamish,

Nothing supported in package metadata or scripts, but for lesspipe optional 
dependencies are listed in the (lengthy) description with the hint:
"Converters are checked for and used if available, including Cygwin packages:
... [see below]
To use these, select them for install in the Cygwin Setup program."
and added into the b-r for testing, as we do not want to drag in packages that 
are not essential:

	https://cygwin.com/cgit/cygwin-packages/lesspipe/tree/lesspipe.cygport
...
# supported shells and apps for tests and converters
BUILD_REQUIRES="bash zsh
	git libiconv less mutt vim perl
	antiword binutils brotli bsdtar bzip2 cabextract catdoc cpio djvulibre
	ffmpeg genisoimage ghostscript groff gzip hdf5 id3v2 ImageMagick
	jq lynx lz4 lzip mandoc mediainfo netcdf odt2txt openssl
	p7zip perl-Archive-Zip perl-Image-ExifTool pigz poppler python39-pygments
	qpdf rpm source-highlight texlive unrtf unzip util-linux
	w3m wordview writerperfect wv xlsx2csv xz zstd"

REQUIRES="less libiconv"	# iconv for code page conversions
...

-- 
Take care. Thanks, Brian Inglis              Calgary, Alberta, Canada

La perfection est atteinte                   Perfection is achieved
non pas lorsqu'il n'y a plus rien à ajouter  not when there is no more to add
mais lorsqu'il n'y a plus rien à retrancher  but when there is no more to cut
                                 -- Antoine de Saint-Exupéry