[DRE-maint] Bug#818659: gitlab: please consider making the dependency on letsencrypt optional

[Johannes Schauer]

Package: gitlab
Version: 8.4.3+dfsg-12
Severity: wishlist

Hi,

gitlab added letsencrypt as a hard dependency. This leads to the
following additional packages getting installed:

  letsencrypt python-acme python-cffi-backend python-chardet
  python-configargparse python-configobj python-cryptography
  python-dialog python-enum34 python-funcsigs python-idna
  python-ipaddress python-letsencrypt python-mock python-ndg-httpsclient
  python-openssl python-parsedatetime python-pbr python-pkg-resources
  python-psutil python-pyasn1 python-requests python-rfc3339 python-six
  python-tz python-urllib3 python-zope.component python-zope.event
  python-zope.hookable python-zope.interface

I require none of these packages and they will just take up space on a
system where I have no need for being able to acquire a certificate via
letsencrypt ever.

It also seems that letsencrypt is only used in the postinst script if
the respective debconf variable is set to true. Thus it seems that the
availability of letsencrypt is actually optional and not a hard
dependency of the gitlab system.

Considering these points, could you maybe move the letsencrypt
dependency from Depends into Recommends and adjust the postinst script
to only try using letsencrypt if the binary is available?

Thanks!

cheers, josch