[Pkg-utopia-maintainers] Bug#1000353: Downgrade e2fsprogs from Depends to Recommends?

[Trent W. Buck]

Package: libblockdev-fs2
Version: 2.25-2
Severity: wishlist
File: /usr/lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/libbd_fs.so.2.0.0

libblockdev-fs2 Depends e2fsprogs because it calls dumpe2fs &c.
This was done per https://bugs.debian.org/887270
AFAICT there is a run-time check for this:

    https://codesearch.debian.net/search?q=bd_fs_ext_is_tech_avail

In other words, dumpe2fs isn't found in $PATH, libblockdev-fs2 will
print an obvious error, instead of e.g. segfaulting.

Therefore, can you downgrade e2fsprogs from Depends to Recommends?

In a prison where USB keys are banned, this will
let me support trash:// (via "gvfs" package),
without shipping ext4 tools.

I can work around this with a dummy package, so
if there's a good counter-argument,
I can live with the status quo.


-- System Information:
Debian Release: 11.1
  APT prefers stable-updates
  APT policy: (500, 'stable-updates'), (500, 'stable-security'), (500, 'proposed-updates'), (500, 'stable')
Architecture: amd64 (x86_64)

Kernel: Linux 5.14.0-0.bpo.2-amd64 (SMP w/8 CPU threads)
Kernel taint flags: TAINT_PROPRIETARY_MODULE, TAINT_OOT_MODULE, TAINT_UNSIGNED_MODULE
Locale: LANG=en_AU.UTF-8, LC_CTYPE=en_AU.UTF-8 (charmap=UTF-8), LANGUAGE not set
Shell: /bin/sh linked to /usr/bin/dash
Init: systemd (via /run/systemd/system)
LSM: AppArmor: enabled

Versions of packages libblockdev-fs2:amd64 depends on:
ii  e2fsprogs              1.46.2-2
ii  libblkid1              2.36.1-8
ii  libblockdev-part-err2  2.25-2
ii  libblockdev-utils2     2.25-2
ii  libc6                  2.31-13+deb11u2
ii  libglib2.0-0           2.66.8-1
ii  libmount1              2.36.1-8
ii  libparted-fs-resize0   3.4-1
ii  libparted2             3.4-1

libblockdev-fs2:amd64 recommends no packages.

libblockdev-fs2:amd64 suggests no packages.

-- no debconf information