> That's true, but if you are going to publish build
> instructions for every package, you need to specify your
> base system.  I don't follow what other distros are
> doing, but ubuntu, for instance, doesn't distribute gtk1
> apps like ghostview and xmms by default any more.
> 
> It's almost a Catch-22.  You need a lot of
> prerequisites to build Trinity, so you use a distro like
> Debian or Ubuntu to get them.  If you do that, why
> build from source and not just get the binaries for Trinity
> the same way?
> 
> It also gets really complicated.  Why is ghostview
> needed?  The answer of course is kghostview, but you
> don't need to build that.  You either need to say that
> app X needs prerequisite Y or say that Trinity needs
> prerequisites Y1, Y2, ... Yn.  The second way will not
> help a lot of users.

Sure, when people build from scratch things get complicated. :)

I have good notes about what external packages are required to provide TDE full functionality. The original KDE3 packages provided many hooks to other packages. The KDE3 packages still built when those external packages were not installed, but when those packages were installed and the respective configure options were set, then the KDE3 packages took advantage of those hooks. Those hooks still exist in TDE.

That is the point of my original statement. Using the word dependency was inaccurate. Expanded functionality is a better expression.

Your point about kghostview is interesting. Will kdegraphics build when ghostview is not installed? I presume yes and that the configure messages will say as much. The Kghostview package would not get built but I presume Kpdf would.

That pretty much is how I accumulated my notes about external packages. Those packages are not dependencies, but external icing on the cake. I don't pretend to know what additional functionality each of those hooks provide, I only know that when those external packages are not installed I see related messages during the configure process (now cmake with several packages).

I mentioned in a previous response I could provide those notes if requested. I suppose I should just post them. :)

Darrell