Bug 22219 – request: subpackage system for portage (*-devel, *-doc, *-lib,...) like other distros have

• Product: Portage Development
• Status: RESOLVED DUPLICATE

[Description Michael Kefeder 2003-06-04 12:44:30 UTC]

There seems to be no way to install only the client-libraries and apps needed 
for database servers, or other software that has a client and server part. A 
request for such a "client only build" was implemented for subversion. (see 
http://bugs.gentoo.org/show_bug.cgi?id=20842) When i suggested this feature for 
mysql and postgres the maintainer of the mysql package pointed me at the fact 
that client-only building is not enough there's probably need for a subpackage 
system handling -devel, -doc and -lib packages like rpm based distros do and 
debian does. (see http://bugs.gentoo.org/show_bug.cgi?id=21882)
I think having the option to install only needed things saves disk-space and 
compilation time, and disables users of client-machines in companies to misuse 
the full install of a package... please read bug #21882 to see a practical 
example why that would be pretty useful for e.g. databases and developers.


Reproducible: Always
Steps to Reproduce:

[Comment 1 Marius Mauch (RETIRED) 2003-07-24 08:51:14 UTC]

Check bug 12499 for server / client separation.

[Comment 2 Marius Mauch (RETIRED) 2003-09-21 10:32:26 UTC]

I really dislike this idea for several reasons:
- it will probably double the tree size
- I appreciate the fact that I DON'T have to install half a dozen packages to get something installed
- it would need a rewrite of many ebuilds to seperate the relevant files
- we'd need to change all the dependencies
- it will confuse many users

I like the idea of a client/server separation based on a USE flag as discussed in bug 12499 but I wouldn't feel much if it got rejected.


*** This bug has been marked as a duplicate of 12499 ***