Package: gettext Version: 0.14.1-8 Severity: important Hi Santiago,
The current gettext package's dependency on libgcj4 was thrust into the
limelight this weekend when it helped create a circular (build-)dep chain
that caused gcc-3.3 to fail to build from source. The gcc-3.3 end of things
was relaxed to let this package build again, but we still have the other end
of the chain, which is:
debhelper -> po-debconf -> gettext -> libgcj4
This means that, to install a tool whose use is so widespread in building
that it has recently been proposed as a candidate for build-essential,
buildds (and developers) must now install libgcj4 and all the packages that
come with it. I think this is a bad thing even when it doesn't cause build
failures, and I think there needs to be a gettext package that po-debconf
can depend on which doesn't drag in this added dependency.
I don't know whether this should mean an expanded gettext-base that
po-debconf can depend on instead of gettext, or an added gettext-java
package that splits off the Java parts (I suspect the latter would be best),
but I think the current situation is definitely suboptimal.
Thanks,
--
Steve Langasek
postmodern programmer
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