FS#72277 - [starship] Font as a dependency mistake

Attached to Project: Community Packages
Opened by Raven's Iris (ravensiris) - Wednesday, 29 September 2021, 02:43 GMT
Last edited by Caleb Maclennan (alerque) - Wednesday, 29 September 2021, 08:57 GMT
Task Type General Gripe
Category Packages
Status Closed
Assigned To Maxime Gauduin (Alucryd)
Caleb Maclennan (alerque)
Architecture All
Severity Low
Priority Normal
Reported Version
Due in Version Undecided
Due Date Undecided
Percent Complete 100%
Votes 2
Private No

Details

Description:

Fonts should not be a dependency for a cli tool.

Users should have a freedom to chose the font they want to use.

Having "ttf-font-nerd (ttf-iosevka-nerd)" as a dependency breaks things for me as I have "nerd-fonts-complete" package installed that's in conflict with "ttf-iosevka-nerd".


Additional info:
package version(s): 0.58.0-2
This task depends upon

Closed by  Caleb Maclennan (alerque)
Wednesday, 29 September 2021, 08:57 GMT
Reason for closing:  Not a bug
Additional comments about closing:  See comments. Dependency is a virtual package and not a mistake.
Comment by Caleb Maclennan (alerque) - Wednesday, 29 September 2021, 08:56 GMT
The dependency that was added is not a font, it is a virtual package for a *class* of fonts. Any font that has nerd glyphs can provide it and you are free to choose any package that does so. You can also provide a dummy package yourself if you have the font installed outside of the package manager. You don't need to install a specific font, but the tool does require at least one font that provides NERD glyphs.

This is similar to how Arch apps may require `ttf-font`. That doesn't lock them into any specific font choice, but it does require them to pick at least one eligible font that provides a full family (serif + sans and some other qualifications).
Comment by Caleb Maclennan (alerque) - Wednesday, 29 September 2021, 08:56 GMT
Also note the "nerd-fonts-complete" package on the AUR has already dealt with this and started providing the necessary virtual package.

**EDIT:** For those still worried about this, for example in the case of remote systems that you don't want to waste space for a font file on, you can always create and install an empty virtual package that provides=() the required font spec. That will keep any actual fonts from being required.

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