Package: libc6 Version: 2.11.2-11 Severity: wishlist Looking carefully at the contents of libc-bin, it appears that libc6 could just Recommends libc-bin, rather than having a Depends on it. Specifically, taking the contents of libc-bin piece by piece:
/etc/bindresvport.blacklist Not required to run programs, just a workaround for a conflict between RPC and a handful of services. /etc/ld.so.conf.d/libc.conf Just adds /usr/local/lib; not a required component of a system. /etc/gai.conf Consists entirely of commented-out defaults. /sbin/ldconfig Maintaining ld.so.cache makes the system run faster, but the system will run without it. The only caveat: any library packages would need to only run it if it exists. /usr/bin/catchsegv /usr/bin/getconf /usr/bin/getent /usr/bin/iconv /usr/bin/ldd /usr/bin/localedef /usr/bin/locale /usr/bin/tzselect /usr/bin/rpcinfo /usr/bin/zdump None required for a running system, just generally useful. /usr/lib /usr/lib/pt_chown Not required for a running system, just useful. /usr/sbin/iconvconfig /usr/sbin/zic Not required for a running system, just useful. /usr/share/man/* Helpful documentation but not required to run. /usr/share/doc/libc-bin/* Helpful documentation but not required to run. /usr/share/lintian/overrides/libc-bin Obviously not required. So, in general, nothing in libc-bin has to exist for the system to work, and only one thing (ldconfig) needs some extra care to make sure the system can cope without its presence. On the flipside, though, libc-bin probably needs "Depends: libc6", since it includes various programs that need libc6. (Related to this: neither libc6 nor libc-bin has "Essential: yes", so programs already can't count on them without a dependency.) This came up when trying to build a *very* minimal system with debootstrap, and auditing all the dependencies very carefully. - Josh Triplett and Jamey Sharp -- System Information: Debian Release: wheezy/sid APT prefers unstable APT policy: (500, 'unstable'), (500, 'stable'), (1, 'experimental') Architecture: amd64 (x86_64) Kernel: Linux 2.6.37-1-amd64 (SMP w/2 CPU cores) Locale: LANG=en_US.utf8, LC_CTYPE=en_US.utf8 (charmap=UTF-8) Shell: /bin/sh linked to /bin/dash Versions of packages libc6 depends on: ii libc-bin 2.11.2-11 Embedded GNU C Library: Binaries ii libgcc1 1:4.4.5-12 GCC support library libc6 recommends no packages. Versions of packages libc6 suggests: ii debconf [debconf-2.0] 1.5.38 Debian configuration management sy ii glibc-doc 2.11.2-11 Embedded GNU C Library: Documentat ii locales 2.11.2-11 Embedded GNU C Library: National L -- debconf information excluded -- To UNSUBSCRIBE, email to debian-bugs-dist-requ...@lists.debian.org with a subject of "unsubscribe". Trouble? Contact listmas...@lists.debian.org