[pkg-gnupg-maint] Bug#845720: Bug#845720: gnupg: missing dependency on dirmngr

[Daniel Kahn Gillmor]

Control: tags 845720 + wontfix

Hi Heinrich--

Thanks for your report!  I think we disagree about the utility of
dirmngr compared to GnuPG.  I'm marking this report wontfix and closing
it for reasons described below.  If you feel that i've missed something,
you're welcome to reopen the report and help me see what i've missed.

On Sat 2016-11-26 01:29:53 -0500, Heinrich Schuchardt wrote:
> on a fresh system setup with debootstrap I got the following output:
>
> gpg --list-keys 79BE3E4300411886 || \
> gpg --keyserver keys.gnupg.net --recv-key 79BE3E4300411886
> gpg: directory '/home/user/.gnupg' created
> gpg: can't open '/usr/share/gnupg/dirmngr-conf.skel': No such file or directory
> gpg: new configuration file '/home/user/.gnupg/gpg.conf' created
> gpg: keybox '/home/user/.gnupg/pubring.kbx' created
> gpg: /home/user/.gnupg/trustdb.gpg: trustdb created
> gpg: error reading key: No public key
> gpg: failed to start the dirmngr '/usr/bin/dirmngr': No such file or directory
> gpg: connecting dirmngr at '/run/user/1000/gnupg/S.dirmngr' failed: No such file or directory
> gpg: keyserver receive failed: No dirmngr
>
> Please, add the missing dependency on package dirmngr.

gnupg already Recommends: dirmngr.  Without dirmngr, the gnupg package
can perform all sorts of useful functionality (encryption, decryption,
signing, verification, local key management, etc).  The only thing it
needs dirmngr for is network access.

§7.2 of policy says of Recommends:

     This declares a strong, but not absolute, dependency.

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


and of Depends:

     This declares an absolute dependency. A package will not be
     configured unless all of the packages listed in its Depends field
     have been correctly configured (unless there is a circular
     dependency as described above).

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

I'm closing this bug report because dirmngr fits much better in
Recommends than in Depends.

           --dkg
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