Hello Pirate,
On Mon 22 Jun 2020 at 12:58AM +0530, Pirate Praveen wrote:
> We usually use Provides instead of splitting when we can remove the Depends
> on the interpreter. For example node-clipboard provides libjs-clipboard.js.
> This works when the node package does not ship a user facing significant
> executable. User facing executable as separate binary was recognized as a
> valid reason by CTTE in the ruling I quoted in my first reply.
>
> In case of this particular package, katex binary also provide a command line
> interface via katex command. So we cannot drop the depends on nodejs (rc bug,
> nodejs is not an optional component but the interpreter needed to run the
> katex program). Avoiding unnecessary dependency on interpreters was achieved
> in all previous instances by removing the dependency on pure libraries. We
> expect whichever user facing program depending on the library to set Depends
> on the interpreter. For example gitlab depending on nodejs is enough for
> node-clipboard to satisfy dependency on nodejs. In this case katex itself is
> a user facing program not tied to nodejs development (it is used for maths
> typesetting). So we cannot reasonably expect a user wanting to use katex will
> have nodejs installed already.
Would someone want to use libjs-katex without nodejs installed?
> I thought the CTTE guideline on this specific case of user facing executable
> was enough. They could have just asked for an explanation before rejecting.
You should ensure it's visible in the source package, in
README.{source,Debian} and/or d/changelog.
--
Sean Whitton
