[Slackbuilds-users] OPTIONAL field [was: qemu/spice-gtk and usbredir]

[Andrzej Telszewski]

Hi,

I've spent some time building packages now and although I used an 
automated tool (slackrepo to the rescue, thank you David!), I'm from the 
camp that reads README, trying to leave as little as possible to the fate.

I'm using web browser to find the SlackBuild in question, read on and 
decide what to do. If an optional dependency is mentioned, I search for 
it, read on, and so on ;-)

Searching for optional dependency is the most frustrating point.
Sometimes there are many search results and you need to scan the list to 
find the one you need.
Sometimes, the search filed leaves the keyword you entered there, so you 
have to erase it, before proceeding, etc.

So what's the use for OPTIONAL field you ask?

1) PHP could parse it to give us direct link to the optional SlackBuild 
in question,
2) PHP could parse it to let us know about possible circular dependency.


When it comes to automated tools, I'd say we need something more than 
just the package name in the OPTIONAL field.
Probably something like that (ffmpeg for example) would be needed:

OPTIONAL="libass:ASS=yes|no libbluray:BLURAY=yes|no"

This would have to be thought through to make the best design decisions 
and the SlackBuilds would have to be standardized in one way or the other.

But for the next iteration, having OPTIONAL field mentioning just the 
packages names and SBo website listing them next to REQUIRES, would be 
the step towards the better, faster and more secure world :-)

-- 
Best regards,
Andrzej Telszewski