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authorMichał Górny <mgorny@gentoo.org>2020-01-08 09:47:43 +0100
committerMichał Górny <mgorny@gentoo.org>2020-01-08 10:41:06 +0100
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Optional RDEPEND policy
Signed-off-by: Michał Górny <mgorny@gentoo.org>
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+Dependencies
+============
+
+.. index:: RDEPEND; optional
+.. index:: USE flags; for optional RDEPEND
+
+Optional runtime dependencies
+-----------------------------
+:Source: QA
+:Reference: https://wiki.gentoo.org/index.php?title=Project:Quality_Assurance/Policies&oldid=104017#USE-Controlled_Optional_RDEPENDS
+:Reported: no
+
+Using USE flags to control optional runtime dependencies is not
+acceptable except under very specific circumstances, such as a package
+being nonfunctional unless at least one of a set of optional runtime
+dependencies is installed.
+
+There is no specific preference as to how user should be informed
+of optional runtime dependencies. The two possible options include
+using ``elog`` messages and ``readme.gentoo-r1`` eclass.
+
+*Rationale*: toggling USE flags in order to enable or disable optional
+runtime dependencies causes needless rebuilds of packages in question.
+This is especially important for packages that take long time to build.
+
+.. Note::
+
+ `GLEP 62`_ proposes a solution permitting flipping USE flags without
+ rebuilding package in question. It has been tentatively approved
+ by the Council but no reference implementation has been written.
+
+
+.. _GLEP 62: https://www.gentoo.org/glep/glep-0062.html