Tim:
Sure, I can imagine that if was going to install Apache, and draw pie charts, that there might be some use for them.
Gordon Messmer:
What's htdig got to do with pie charts?
Nothing, it was part of another conversation: A minimal, headless, X-less, server installation installing graphical library files.
But let such applications draw them in as a dependency.
Right... that's what happened. KDE's help system includes a search function. It uses htdig. htdig was drawn in as a dependency of KDE.
Fair enough, in that situation. Doesn't explain some others, though.
-- I need a new wheel for my car. -- Sure, but it comes with a caravan... -- I don't want a caravan! -- You don't have to use it, you can just leave it parked in your garage. -- I don't have the space. -- You could get a bigger plot of land... -- I don't want to. Can I get rid of the caravan? -- Yes, but you'd also lose the new wheel.
That's a silly analogy. You're installing KDE, which requires htdig to search the KDE documentation.
Only if you're harping on about KDE. In the other case, there was no sane reason for installing some of what got included on a bare bones install. The silliness of the situation was precisely the point (alleged requirements, that really are not required).
The space you're complaining about is trivial compared to the rest of the KDE platform.
Ignoring KDE, for the moment, it all adds up. When this programmer decides that his program depends on another 20 meg program, and that programmer decides that his program on another 50 meg program, it all snowballs. Other distros can manage barebone installations on systems with really small drives and RAM requirements, a fraction of what Fedora considered to be a barebones system.
Even then, why it is a requirement to be able to search the documentation for KDE? Perhaps I mightn't want to search the documents. Perhaps I mightn't even want to install the documentation. Don't make what should be optional extras into unavoidable dependencies. KDE and Gnome are shockingly huge behemoths.
Car analogy: you want a car, and you're complaining because it requires brakes. It's a PITA to replace brake pads, you say, but if you want the car to stop, that's what you're gonna do.
Spurious argument. Buy a car, don't want a radio, don't need it, for anything, but we won't let you buy it without it. That's what I'm annoyed at: BOGUS requirements.