[gentoo-dev] [EAPI 8 RFC] Install-time dependencies

[Michał Górny]

Hello,

Here's another potential EAPI 8 feature I'd like to discuss.  Please
note that this is about *new dependency type*, so please don't hijack it
into the big 'let's steal Exherbo syntax' debate.

Bug: https://bugs.gentoo.org/660306


The problem
===========

Right now we don't really have a clean way of specifying dependencies
that are used during pkg_*inst (and pkg_*rm?) phases.  So far RDEPEND
was used as a 'close enough' alternative (except for a few developers
who rejected it as 'invalid' and used DEPEND which is even more wrong). 
However, this is no longer sufficient with EAPI 7 cross support.

By design, pkg_*inst phases are run in build host's environment when
cross is used (because obviously you can't run target host executables).
Therefore, the relevant dependencies need to be installed into CBUILD
root, while RDEPEND is installed into CHOST root.


The proposed solution
=====================

The proposal is to add a new dependency type (codename: IDEPEND) which
indicates dependencies used for pkg_*inst (and pkg_*rm?) phases.  Those
dependencies would be installed into CBUILD root (like BDEPEND), and
therefore would be runnable from build host.  Similarly to RDEPEND, they
would be installed for binary package installs but not for pure binpkg
builds (without install).

Example:

  inherit xdg-utils

  IDEPEND="dev-util/desktop-file-utils"

  pkg_postinst() {
    xdg_desktop_database_update
  }


WDYT?


-- 
Best regards,
Michał Górny