Bug#886238: Build-Profiles purpose, mechanism vs policy (was Re: Bug#886238: Please introduce official nosystemd build profile)
On Tue, Jan 09, 2018 at 07:29:51PM -0500, Sam Hartman wrote:
> >>>>> "Adrian" == Adrian Bunk <bunk@debian.org> writes:
>
> Adrian> On Tue, Jan 09, 2018 at 01:23:32PM +0100, Guillem Jover wrote:
> >> ... Given the background of build-profiles, I'm very much in
> >> favor of introducing the equivalent usage as Gentoo USE flags,
> >> which was its main intention! :) It could make Debian a viable
> >> source-based distribution to use or base on, could make many of
> >> the embedded specific distribution solutions obsolete, ...
>
> Adrian> Who would then implement, maintain and support this in all
> Adrian> packages?
>
> No one. People would implement and test the feature where it was
> sufficiently useful to implement and test. I don't think all of the use
> flags combinations are tested in source distributions that have them
> today.
>
> Even so, users find those flags useful enough to spend a fair bit of
> work on them.
To "make many of the embedded specific distribution solutions obsolete",
Debian would have to provide all this in stable releases at a quality
comparable to Yocto.
> A build profile seems like a great way to express the flag, and like
> many things in Debian, the work would fall on those who would benefit
> from it.
>
> So, I do support the use of build profiles for use flags.
> I also believe there's sufficient utility for downstreams and users to
> justify this.
For many use flags the only benefit is an unused library less on
the system when the flag is disabled, and this also applies to the
proposed nosystemd profile discussed in this bug.
Support for nosystemd in only 95% of all libsystemd-using packages would
still result in libsystemd being installed - if just one maintainer
would refuse to apply a nosystemd patch, the people working on nosystemd
in Debian basically have to rely on CTTE overruling the maintainer.
Your "build profiles for use flags" can easily require changes to
hundreds of packages just for one flag, often including non-trivial
changes to e.g. debian/rules or .install files.
This only makes sense if there is consensus that this is a useful
direction, and that this should be fully supported in future stable
releases of Debian.
> --Sam
cu
Adrian
[1] Raspberry Pi Zero is already big enough to not require use flags
--
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"Only a promise," Lao Er said.
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