php needs X?!?

[LordShryku]

Here's something I found funny...

I've never installed php through a packaging system. Regardless of the OS, I've always just downloaded and compiled my own php. So, just out of curiosity, I wanted to see what php's dependancies would be on a fresh install of Gentoo. To my suprise, php needs X. Among many other things. Who builds these ebuilds anyway?

geeklab local # emerge --pretend php

These are the packages that I would merge, in order:

Calculating dependencies ...done!
[ebuild  N    ] media-libs/jpeg-6b-r3
[ebuild  N    ] media-libs/freetype-2.1.5-r1
[ebuild  N    ] x11-misc/ttmkfdir-3.0.9-r1
[ebuild  N    ] media-libs/fontconfig-2.2.2
[ebuild  N    ] media-libs/libpng-1.2.5-r7
[ebuild  N    ] x11-base/opengl-update-1.7.2
[ebuild  N    ] x11-base/xorg-x11-6.7.0-r1
[ebuild  N    ] media-libs/gd-2.0.26
[ebuild  N    ] app-arch/rpm2targz-9.0-r2
[ebuild  N    ] sys-apps/utempter-0.5.5.5
[ebuild  N    ] x11-terms/xterm-191
[ebuild  N    ] app-crypt/mhash-0.9.1
[ebuild  N    ] media-libs/tiff-3.5.7-r1
[ebuild  N    ] dev-libs/libxml2-2.6.11
[ebuild  N    ] dev-libs/libxslt-1.1.8
[ebuild  N    ] dev-perl/XML-Parser-2.34
[ebuild  N    ] app-text/sablotron-1.0
[ebuild  N    ] dev-libs/libmcrypt-2.5.7
[ebuild  N    ] dev-db/freetds-0.62.3
[ebuild  N    ] dev-db/mysql-4.0.20
[ebuild  N    ] net-libs/libwww-5.4.0-r2
[ebuild  N    ] dev-perl/Net-Daemon-0.37
[ebuild  N    ] dev-perl/Storable-2.07-r1
[ebuild  N    ] dev-perl/PlRPC-0.2016-r1
[ebuild  N    ] dev-perl/DBI-1.38
[ebuild  N    ] dev-perl/DBD-mysql-2.1027
[ebuild  N    ] dev-python/egenix-mx-base-2.0.5
[ebuild  N    ] app-admin/sudo-1.6.7_p5
[ebuild  N    ] dev-db/postgresql-7.4.3
[ebuild  N    ] media-libs/libungif-4.1.0.1b
[ebuild  N    ] media-libs/giflib-4.1.0-r3
[ebuild  N    ] net-print/cups-1.1.20-r1
[ebuild  N    ] media-libs/lcms-1.12
[ebuild  N    ] media-libs/libmng-1.0.4
[ebuild  N    ] x11-libs/qt-3.3.2
[ebuild  N    ] media-libs/pdflib-5.0.2
[ebuild  N    ] media-libs/freetype-1.3.1-r3
[ebuild  N    ] net-misc/curl-7.11.0
[ebuild  N    ] app-text/aspell-0.50.5-r2
[ebuild  N    ] media-libs/t1lib-5.0.0-r2
[ebuild  N    ] dev-php/php-4.3.8

geeklab local # emerge --pretend mod_php

These are the packages that I would merge, in order:

Calculating dependencies ...done!
[ebuild  N    ] media-libs/jpeg-6b-r3
[ebuild  N    ] media-libs/freetype-2.1.5-r1
[ebuild  N    ] x11-misc/ttmkfdir-3.0.9-r1
[ebuild  N    ] media-libs/fontconfig-2.2.2
[ebuild  N    ] media-libs/libpng-1.2.5-r7
[ebuild  N    ] x11-base/opengl-update-1.7.2
[ebuild  N    ] x11-base/xorg-x11-6.7.0-r1
[ebuild  N    ] media-libs/gd-2.0.26
[ebuild  N    ] app-arch/rpm2targz-9.0-r2
[ebuild  N    ] sys-apps/utempter-0.5.5.5
[ebuild  N    ] x11-terms/xterm-191
[ebuild  N    ] app-crypt/mhash-0.9.1
[ebuild  N    ] media-libs/tiff-3.5.7-r1
[ebuild  N    ] dev-libs/libxml2-2.6.11
[ebuild  N    ] dev-libs/libxslt-1.1.8
[ebuild  N    ] dev-perl/XML-Parser-2.34
[ebuild  N    ] app-text/sablotron-1.0
[ebuild  N    ] net-www/apache-2.0.50
[ebuild  N    ] dev-libs/libmcrypt-2.5.7
[ebuild  N    ] dev-db/freetds-0.62.3
[ebuild  N    ] dev-db/mysql-4.0.20
[ebuild  N    ] net-libs/libwww-5.4.0-r2
[ebuild  N    ] dev-perl/Net-Daemon-0.37
[ebuild  N    ] dev-perl/Storable-2.07-r1
[ebuild  N    ] dev-perl/PlRPC-0.2016-r1
[ebuild  N    ] dev-perl/DBI-1.38
[ebuild  N    ] dev-perl/DBD-mysql-2.1027
[ebuild  N    ] dev-python/egenix-mx-base-2.0.5
[ebuild  N    ] app-admin/sudo-1.6.7_p5
[ebuild  N    ] dev-db/postgresql-7.4.3
[ebuild  N    ] media-libs/libungif-4.1.0.1b
[ebuild  N    ] media-libs/giflib-4.1.0-r3
[ebuild  N    ] net-print/cups-1.1.20-r1
[ebuild  N    ] media-libs/lcms-1.12
[ebuild  N    ] media-libs/libmng-1.0.4
[ebuild  N    ] x11-libs/qt-3.3.2
[ebuild  N    ] media-libs/pdflib-5.0.2
[ebuild  N    ] media-libs/freetype-1.3.1-r3
[ebuild  N    ] net-misc/curl-7.11.0
[ebuild  N    ] app-text/aspell-0.50.5-r2
[ebuild  N    ] media-libs/t1lib-5.0.0-r2
[ebuild  N    ] dev-php/mod_php-4.3.8
[ebuild  N    ] dev-php/php-4.3.8

[goldbug]

what does emerge -pv php show (or etcat -u php if you've installed gentoolkit)? I'd wager that it's not php that explicitly needs X, but one of the libraries it's using (QT maybe? -- for qtdom)
There's probably some USE flag that can be disabled.

[LordShryku]

Yeah, I did that yesterday, and it's required mostly by the graphics libs (gd and gif). At first sight though, it's fairly odd. Especially considering gd and gif are pretty common. Was more of just "looking around" though. I still maintain the "roll your own" mentality when it comes to building certain things, and php is in that category.

[dalecosp]

Yup, 'libungif' is at least one of the culprits.

Dunno that it surprises me, though; GIFs are pretty ugly output to VT-102. 😉

More seriously, I guess that it's a bit easier to use extant code (like XFreelibraries) when writing a graphics program like libungif?