Re: Depends/Recommends from libraries

[Ian Jackson <ijackson@chiark.greenend.org.uk>]

Adam Borowski writes ("Depends/Recommends from libraries"):
> I'd like to discuss (and then propose to -policy) the following rule:
> 
> # Libraries which don't provide a convenient means of conditionally loading
> # at runtime (this includes most libraries for languages such as C), SHOULD
> # NOT declare a "Depends:" or "Recommends:" relationship, directly or
> # indirectly, on packages containing anything more than dormant files. 
> # Those include, among others, daemons, executables in $PATH, etc.  Any such
> # relationship should be instead declared by programs that use the library
> # in question -- it is up to them to decide how important the relationship
> # is.

This seems like a non-brainer to me.  Can anyone come up with a reason
why this would be wrong in general ?

Of course there may be exceptions, but you're proposing a SHOULD.

Ian.