Re: To DEPEND on indirect dependencies or not to DEPEND

Jun 15, 2026 11:20:43 Dag-Erling Smørgrav <[email protected]>:

> Bugs Beastie <[email protected]> writes:
>> Most probably the question was discussed a lot of times, but I have
>> not found a definitive answer.
>>
>> If an app depends on libfoo that depends on libbar:
>> app -> libfoo -> libbar
>> Should the port of app add LIB_DEPENDS only on libfoo or on both
>> libfoo and libbar?
>
> If the app is only linked with libfoo, the port should only list libfoo
> in LIB_DEPENDS.
>
> As a practical matter, it is safe to err on the side of shorter
> LIB_DEPENDS, because you will get an error if you should also have
> included libbar but didn't.
>
Thank you all for the answers!

We can summarize them in the Porter's Orange Bible:
"Thou The Port shalt not know the Ancestors of its Ancestors. Doing so is Heretek Omega and is sentenced to Immediate Death."

:)