GNU bug report logs - #73982
GCC Dependency?

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From: help-debbugs <at> gnu.org (GNU bug Tracking System)
To: Eli Zaretskii <eliz <at> gnu.org>
Cc: tracker <at> debbugs.gnu.org
Subject: bug#73982: closed (GCC Dependency?)
Date: Sat, 26 Oct 2024 07:17:02 +0000

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Your message dated Sat, 26 Oct 2024 10:15:56 +0300
with message-id <86v7xf9vwz.fsf <at> gnu.org>
and subject line Re: bug#73982: GCC Dependency?
has caused the debbugs.gnu.org bug report #73982,
regarding GCC Dependency?
to be marked as done.

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help-debbugs <at> gnu.org.)


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73982: https://debbugs.gnu.org/cgi/bugreport.cgi?bug=73982
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From: Jeffrey Walton <noloader <at> gmail.com>
To: bug-gnu-emacs <at> gnu.org
Subject: GCC Dependency?
Date: Thu, 24 Oct 2024 03:42:01 -0400

Hi Everyone,

I wanted to install emacs-nw, a/k/a emacs-nox, on a production Fedora
server to edit configuration files. I had to install Zile instead
because of all of Emac's dependencies, which now seems to include
compilers. Also see Red Hat Bug #2316238,
<https://bugzilla.redhat.com/show_bug.cgi?id=2316238>.

I think the dev team made a bad architectural decision when it decided
to allow the cornucopia of dependencies to grow, which now appears to
include compilers. For my use case -- a production server facing the
internet -- I do not want extra packages, like compilers and linkers.
I am not trying to help an attacker produce executable code on my
machine.

I think it would be wise to remove the requirement of a compiler for a
simple text editor. The team needs to provide a simple text editor (in
addition to the other bloated offerings).

For completeness:

    $ dnf info emacs-nw
    Name         : emacs-nw
    Epoch        : 1
    Version      : 29.4
    Release      : 9.fc40
    Architecture : x86_64
    Size         : 31 M
    Source       : emacs-29.4-9.fc40.src.rpm
    Repository   : updates

Jeff

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From: Eli Zaretskii <eliz <at> gnu.org>
To: p.d.oliver <at> mavit.org.uk, noloader <at> gmail.com
Cc: 73982-done <at> debbugs.gnu.org
Subject: Re: bug#73982: GCC Dependency?
Date: Sat, 26 Oct 2024 10:15:56 +0300

> Cc: 73982 <at> debbugs.gnu.org
> Date: Thu, 24 Oct 2024 16:07:49 +0300
> From: Eli Zaretskii <eliz <at> gnu.org>
> 
> Obviously, it isn't my place to decide how should Fedora package
> Emacs, but if they prefer to err on the side of including all, they
> should be prepared to deal with complaints such as this one, instead
> of pointing the users who complain at the upstream project, which has
> nothing to do with those decisions.

Red Hat closed their ticket (without really explaining how they
resolve the issue raised by the OP's, but that's not my problem to
solve), so I'm now closing this non-bug.

The bottom line, from my POV, is that the Emacs project provides
configure-time options to build Emacs with or without any combination
of the optional dependencies, as well as the --without-all option to
build the minimal Emacs without any optional dependencies.  Users who
download Linux distros of Emacs should understand what they are
downloading, and should take any problems with these distros to the
respective downstream teams.  If the packages provided by the distros
do not satisfy the end-user requirements, our recommendation to the
users is to build their own Emacs from the source tarballs distributed
by us and available from the GNU FTP sites worldwide; then users could
control exactly what optional dependencies are compiled into Emacs.

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