Bug#801398: [Patch] Replace Dpkg::IPC::spawn with IPC::Run::run

[Jakub Wilk]

* Osamu Aoki <osamu at debian.org>, 2015-10-10, 17:16:
>>>Some time back licensecheck grew a dependency on Dpkg::IPC [1], which 
>>>on Fedora causes the "devscripts-minimal" package (which includes 
>>>licensecheck) to pull in dpkg. I'd like to propose the patch below to 
>>>reduce the dependency load:

[...]

>I do not know how OP wishes to use this code on Fedora but if we look 
>at the devscripts package as a whole, the OP's claim "grew a 
>dependency" does not make sense. The use of Dpkg::IPC was meant to 
>avoid growing dependency.
>
>Look at the package:
>
>$ cd scripts
>$ fgrep 'use Dpkg::IPC' *.pl
>debdiff.pl:use Dpkg::IPC;
>debuild.pl:use Dpkg::IPC;
>dscverify.pl:use Dpkg::IPC;
>mk-build-deps.pl:use Dpkg::IPC;
>mk-origtargz.pl:use Dpkg::IPC;
>uscan.pl:use Dpkg::IPC;

All these programs work work with Debian packages, so they are not very 
useful for an average Fedora developer. Also, if you are going to work 
with Debian packages, you will probably need dpkg-dev (and therefore 
dpkg Perl modules) anyway.

>licensecheck.pl:use Dpkg::IPC qw(spawn);

This script is not Debian-specific at all. In Fedora it was put in a 
separate package ("devscripts-minimal"), along with other 
non-Debian-specific devscripts programs. This binary package didn't have 
dependency on dpkg Perl modules until now.

I think it would in spirit of SC§2 to avoid adding runtime 
dependencies that are unlikely to be satisfied on non-Debian systems to 
scripts that are generally useful on such systems.

>If the wishlist bug comes with patch which enables either Dpkg::IPC or 
>IPC::Run after checking their availability, that may be implemented if 
>security concerns are not there.

This would be my preferred option, too.

I might write a patch implementing it later, but feel free to beat me to 
it. :)

-- 
Jakub Wilk