Bug#416875: [pkg-ntp-maintainers] Bug#416875: NTP depends on Perl

[Juliusz Chroboczek]

>> I've just spent some time trying to install a reasonably minimal
>> Debian system on a router.  To my dismay, there was no way I could get
>> rid of Perl, as the NTP daemon depends on it.

>> This dependency is not necessary, as the daemon itself doesn't need
>> perl -- it's only the accompanying scripts that do.

>> Please change the ``Depends: perl'' to a Suggests (or perhaps a Recommends).

> Since the scripts that go with it do require perl, we can't just 
> change this.

Both ntptrace nor ntp-wait are optional scripts, and not particularly
useful to boot (ntptrace only works with NTP 3, so it's obsolete, and
I've never seen anyone use ntp-wait).  I don't think it is worth
forcing Perl down peoples' throats for the sake of two rarely-used
scripts.

In case you're the kind of maintainer who likes to quote chapter and
verse, policy 7.2 says:

          The `Depends' field should be used if the depended-on package is
          required for the depending package to provide a significant
          amount of functionality.

This is clearly not the case here.

          The `Recommends' field should list packages that would be found
          together with this one in all but unusual installations.

This might be the case here, but I argue that we're closer to

     `Suggests'
          This is used to declare that one package may be more useful with
          one or more others.

                                        Juliusz