To compile a (quite large) project, I had to install several packages (dependencies). The project required the tool pkg-config. However, that was not mentioned anywhere. Still the project compiled/built, because one of the other dependencies (libsrtp2-dev) installed pkg-config as side effect. So, I had pure luck that it succeeded.
When a package declares another package as "Depends" or "Recommends" in the file "control.in", it gets installed as side effect (Debian Policy). However, libsrtp2-dev needs pkg-config only when I compile it myself. Consequently, pkg-config should be declared just as Build-Depends. This is a minor bug, I am going to report with that package. However then, I investigated a bit more and found seven (optional) dependencies of that project which would have installed pkg-config as a side effect too. OK, this is a bigger issue. Then I investigated further: $ apt-cache rdepends --no-suggests pkg-config On Ubuntu 18.04 LTS, this gives me 250 development packages (-dev) which install pkg-config as a side effect. $ apt-cache rdepends --no-recommends --no-suggests pkg-config Still 186 packages. Those packages come with a .pc file. However, the tool pkg-config should be "suggested" and not "required". Yes, this is a minor issue. However, this looks like a broad issue. How and where do I report something broad like this? Is there somebody which takes over or do I have to report this 250 times? Perhaps this qualifies even for an update of the Debian Policy like adding an example: pkg-config should be maximum of "Suggests" when .pc file exists, even when "Build-Depends" included pkg-config. Or am I on the complete wrong track and this is not even a minor bug?
