Matteo! Good to read you!
The real issue here is that minizip-ng is now a mandatory dependency for OpenColorIO (OCIO) so any transition is on OCIO only as r-dep, for now. Let's see how the situation evolves. Please, keep an eye on #1117510.
Yep, exactly. I just wanted to bring awareness to the issue beyond Blender as minizip-ng is mandatory. During a meeting this morning (on Google Meet) a bunch of us decided that rather than introducing minizip-ng downstream that it should probably be introduced in Debian so that the delta is minimal and the conversation can be had here.
Basically, we don't want to break anything by introducing minizip-ng as a dependency for only opencolorio as anyone who installs Blender will, at that point, be switching their system library to minizip-ng from minizip. While, granted, it contains a compatibility layer, we're a little skittish about what the consequences might be for other applications that need the older minizip. We're basically trying to prevent unexpected crashes and what-not, which is why a wholesale minizip transition might be in order.
I think the bigger issue is the need for a transition as opposed to carrying both.
Anyhow, glad you wrote here!
Erich