Re: [docs] ubuntu/debian alleged doc-building packages seems inaccurate

Hi Robert,

On 6/21/26 7:48 PM, Robert P. J. Day via lists.yoctoproject.org wrote:
> On Fri, 19 Jun 2026, Robert P. J. Day wrote:
> 
>>
>> here:
>>
>> https://docs.yoctoproject.org/ref-manual/system-requirements.html#ubuntu-and-debian
>>
>> we are told:
>>
>>    Here are the packages needed to build Project documentation manuals:
>>
>>    sudo apt install git librsvg2-bin locales make python3-saneyaml
>>      python3-pip python3-venv
>>
>> i've been building HTML docs all this time on my debian 13 system,
>> without:
>>
>>    - python3-pip
>>    - python3-saneyaml
>>    - python3-venv
>>
>> also (as should be obvious), i refuse to install python3 packages
>> via "pip", choosing instead to install then as debian python3-*

Why?

>> packages. so far, it's working out fine.
> 
>    after a few minutes of research, here are my observations on what
> packages are required to build docs on my debian 13 (and, no, i'm not
> sure about any underlying subtleties so i'm not submitting a patch).
> 
>    first, so far, i have avoided the use of "pip" entirely, preferring
> instead to install python3-* packages. from what i read, the preferred
> approach is to install debian packages globally, while preferring to
> use "pip3" exclusively inside a venv environment. i'm not going to
> comment on that either way, just saying that i've managed to avoid
> even *installing* python3-pip3 on this debian 13 system.
> 
>    as for packages i don't seem to need, as above:
> 
>    - python3-pip
>    - python3-saneyaml
>    - python3-venv
> 
> also, installing the debian package python3-sphinxcontrib.svg2pdfconverter
> already pulls in the dependency librsvg2-bin, so that does not need to
> be listed explicitly.
> 

Did you look at the version of packages we are installing in the venv?

We explicitly require svg2pdfconverter >= 2.0.0, which Trixie does not 
have. Why this version? Because it's the first that supports converting 
an SVG to a PNG, which we use for building Epubs.

>    finally, i have not installed python3-websockets, and i can build
> the HTML docs just fine.
> 

Where do we say you need to install python3-websockets for building the 
docs?

Cheers,
Quentin