reopen 566340 severity 566340 minor stop Michael Bienia reports an outdated TeX-related build-dependency in my package 'derivations'. I thank him. The latest upload treats the bug and closes the report.
However, Frank Kuester, who knows rather more about TeX packaging than I do, further suspects that 'derivations' suffers some unnecessary build-dependencies. I do not doubt that Frank is right, so let me reopen the report now with reduced severity. If that is all you want to know, then you can stop reading here. Otherwise, further details follow. I seem to remember that I once had a good reason to specify the build-dependencies Frank questions, but unfortunately I no longer remember the reason, nor do I remember much else, so let me say this: though no action is expected of Frank he can NMU with my thanks should he feel sufficiently motivated to do so. Otherwise, well, time is hard to find and my Internet connectivity is regrettably much worse than it used to be; but probably, eventually, I will address the matter myself. If the information is relevant to Frank or any other competent person who might choose to NMU this bug before I do, the build-process for 'derivations' exercises the LaTeX and postprocessing software pretty hard. This is not a typical LaTeX compilation and PDF presentation, but a relatively complex processing train with a script or two hooked in and even a special-purpose C++ program (compiled, run and then deleted as part of the build) to interfere with and to specialize the build. Maybe this complexity has something to do with the unusual-seeming build-dependencies, or maybe it does not: as I said, unfortunately I no longer remember. Since I do not know as much about TeX's internals as Frank undoubtedly does, I admit to a certain superstition against disturbing a somewhat complex build process which in fact is working right now in Sid. TeX though lovable is somewhat archaic, which can make it *feel* unpredictable or brittle when driven hard. I just do not understand the TeX-packaging issues implicated. For these reasons among others, I am likely to defer the matter until after the release---though, as I said, if Frank feels confident or does not care for my answer, and wants the bug fixed, then he can NMU at his discretion now. At the very least, whatever betide, I appreciate the good counsel on all sides. Let me know if further questions arise. -- Thaddeus
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