64bit version depends on X?

[Leon Blakey]

Originally found in

http://askubuntu.com/q/88122/168

Essentially when installing boinc-client on Ubuntu Server 11.10 x64 it pulls in X dependencies while the x86 version does not. When tested both servers were fairly vanilla installs.

32 bit machine

    The following NEW packages will be installed:
      boinc-client libcurl3

64 bit machine

    The following NEW packages will be installed:
      boinc-client fontconfig:i386 ia32-libs ia32-libs-multiarch:i386 lib32asound2 lib32bz2-1.0 lib32ffi6 lib32gcc1 lib32ncurses5
      lib32ncursesw5 lib32stdc++6 lib32tinfo5 libacl1:i386 libasound2 libattr1:i386 libaudio2:i386 libavahi-client3:i386
      libavahi-common-data:i386 libavahi-common3:i386 libcups2:i386 libcupsimage2:i386 libcurl3 libcurl3:i386 libdrm-intel1:i386
      libdrm-nouveau1a:i386 libdrm-radeon1:i386 libdrm2:i386 libexpat1:i386 libfontconfig1:i386 libfreetype6:i386 libgcrypt11:i386
      libgdbm3:i386 libgl1-mesa-dri:i386 libgl1-mesa-glx:i386 libglapi-mesa:i386 libgnutls26:i386 libgpg-error0:i386 libgssapi-krb5-2:i386
      libice6:i386 libidn11:i386 libjpeg62:i386 libk5crypto3:i386 libkeyutils1:i386 libkrb5-3:i386 libkrb5support0:i386 liblcms1:i386
      libldap-2.4-2:i386 libllvm2.9:i386 libmng1:i386 libnspr4:i386 libnss3:i386 libpciaccess0:i386 libpng12-0:i386 libqt4-dbus:i386
      libqt4-declarative:i386 libqt4-designer:i386 libqt4-network:i386 libqt4-opengl:i386 libqt4-qt3support:i386 libqt4-script:i386
      libqt4-scripttools:i386 libqt4-sql:i386 libqt4-svg:i386 libqt4-test:i386 libqt4-xml:i386 libqt4-xmlpatterns:i386 libqtcore4:i386
      libqtgui4:i386 librtmp0:i386 libsasl2-2:i386 libsasl2-modules:i386 libsm6:i386 libsqlite3-0:i386 libstdc++6:i386 libtasn1-3:i386
      libtiff4:i386 libuuid1:i386 libx11-6:i386 libxau6:i386 libxcb1:i386 libxdamage1:i386 libxdmcp6:i386 libxext6:i386 libxfixes3:i386
      libxi6:i386 libxrender1:i386 libxss1:i386 libxt6:i386 libxxf86vm1:i386 qdbus:i386 x11-common

Is it necessary for the x64 version of the *client* to depend on programs and libraries that provide X functionality? And if it does, why does the x86 version not depend on them?

[Steffen Möller (moeller-debian)]

Hallo,

> Is it necessary for the x64 version of the *client* to depend on
> programs and libraries that provide X functionality? And if it does, why
> does the x86 version not depend on them?

The dependencies for the 64bit version I presume to be auto-added by
the dh_shlibdeps program. Maybe this was uploaded manually and not auto-rebuilt?

With 7.0.3 there will be a dependency on Xss to help the boinc client spot the
movement of the mouse. This will then drag in the X libs for all platforms.
There is a conflict of interest here. We have bug reports for either side.

Since AMD and CUDA do both need X libraries, and those contributions
I presume to easily outweight those who might not want to run the BOINC
client because of the now added dependencies on X, I decided to go for it.

Steffen

[Steffen Möller (moeller-debian)]

The dependency on X is intentional. There is no CUDA / OpenCL without X. And GPGPUs make up easily for those not installing the package any more because of X. And there were complaints about the boinc-client not detecting mouse movements, which only the X libraries detect. We could have - in very deep theory - a variant without any dependency on X. Pay me for it. Steffen

[Leon Blakey (thelq)]

So then if X is so needed then why is there no X dependencies in the 32 bit version? Thats more of what I'm asking

And if there is no reason, then since 32 bit land is fine without gpu packages, what is seriously preventing a boinc-client-gpu package? Time? Effort? Care?

[Steffen Möller (moeller-debian)]

On 01/14/2012 10:23 PM, Leon Blakey wrote:
> So then if X is so needed then why is there no X dependencies in the 32
> bit version? Thats more of what I'm asking

For mere computation, the boinc-client package does not need X. For sensing
user interaction when X is running, it does. And there was a bug reported
earlier about that.

> And if there is no reason, then since 32 bit land is fine without gpu
> packages,
No, it is not fine. There is plenty of 32bit GPU projects out there.
Milkyway and Einstein@Home among them.

> what is seriously preventing a boinc-client-gpu package? Time?
> Effort? Care?

You mean a boinc-client-X. I already placed cuda and opencl packages,
which just drag in the extra dependencies, frequently not so obvious
to the casual user.

Effort. And this also means the effort to compile it all when a new
version comes out. A patch would need to come with a new maintainer.
The RFH is out since a couple of years.

Triaging. I can do more important bits on other packages.

Steffen