I avoid putting gcc and binutils as build deps
because, you're right, 99% of the packages require those.
For the record, most of the "core" GNU packages should normally build
with non-gcc and non-gnu-binutils (e.g., on BSD). A lot of effort has
gone into that over the years. Not that I'm saying you should be doing
or testing that, not at all. (Bigger things, like Octave, I have no
real experience with.)
In any case, if a BUILDDEPS entry has to be satisfied by a gsrc package
and not what's present on system, I certainly agree that's an excellent
reason to leave out things like gcc, binutils, and glibc :).
k
