Re: [gentoo-dev] icedtea requiring X libs to build was -> Guidelines for IUSE defaults

[William L. Thomson Jr.]

On Thursday, February 2, 2017 12:18:43 PM EST Michael Orlitzky wrote:
> On 02/02/2017 12:06 PM, William L. Thomson Jr. wrote:
> >> But more importantly, icedtea-bin was just one example that I had in
> >> mind. There are hundreds of others in the tree.
> >
> > Sure, but some packages themselves go against a minimalist approach due to
> > their own build requirements. You have to fight the package to make them
> > minimal and I am not sure the fight is worth it at times.
>
> We agree on that. If making GTK optional for your package is too much
> trouble, then don't make it optional.

Yes but that is part of the idea. Or I should say benefit of building Java from 
source. You could choose to make stuff optional that is not optional normally. 
But it is not trivial, and likely run into issues.

IMHO likely most if not all of the USE flags for any Java JDK/JRE should not 
exist. They are just reducing deps, with the idea that your not using code 
that needs that stuff. If you do, it will cause issues because you do not have 
those needed deps installed.

Really no way to please everyone. Either someone will want USE flags to reduce 
deps. Which could cause issues in the package. Which in turn have the USE flags 
enabled by default. Which upset others. There is no win for anyone.

> The problem is only when the
> maintainer does make it optional, and then defaults it on in every
> profile using IUSE defaults. Most "give the user a typical system" USE
> defaults belong in a desktop or server profile, not in the base.

Yes that is another matter. However somethings like Java cross over from 
server to desktop. It really just comes from trying to make it to modular. If 
there was no GTK/X/whatever USE flag, then it would not be an issue. But would 
still be bringing in the unwanted stuff into a server.

-- 
William L. Thomson Jr.