[OE-core] Linux kernel build dependency of 'bc'

[Chris Larson]

On Thu, Jun 6, 2013 at 9:08 AM, Paul Eggleton <paul.eggleton at linux.intel.com
> wrote:

> On Thursday 06 June 2013 12:11:04 Otavio Salvador wrote:
> > I got a build failure in my auto builder; it has a very lean system
> install
> > and it spot something it is new for me. It seems the kernel now depends
> on
> > 'bc' util.
> >
> > I tried to find a 'bc-native'  and couldn't find so I'd like to know if
> it
> > is a known issue and if someone is already working in a 'bc-native'
> recipe
> > to proper fix the issue.
>
> We used to have bc in our list of required host packages in the Yocto
> Project
> quick start guide, but after some testing a few versions ago I removed it
> because it didn't seem to be needed. FWIW I don't have it installed on my
> primary build machine and I haven't noticed any problems as a result.
>
> Rather than creating bc-native I think we should find out where the
> dependency
> on bc exists and try to patch it out (if practical); if it really is needed
> and too hard to remove, we can just add bc to the list of required host
> packages. I hope that's not the case though.
>

Apparently Peter Anvin added use of bc to avoid the dependency on perl.
Multiple other distros got bit by this added dep (gentoo, linux from
scratch, etc). Rob Landley was not too happy about it (he had perl removal
patches for the kernel which didn't require bc):

"The perl removal patches are finally upstream! But Peter Anvin's quest to
unnecessarily complicate the kernel build continues, he replaced one with
"bc" which is a turing-complete programming language that's so seldom used
busybox hasn't got it. His patch broke Linux From Scratch (they had to add
bc to chapter 5; in the past 12 years it's never been there). I have no
idea _why_ he did this since the C implementation I contributed was
actually smaller and simpler than what he wrote. Oh well."
-- 
Christopher Larson
clarson at kergoth dot com
Founder - BitBake, OpenEmbedded, OpenZaurus
Maintainer - Tslib
Senior Software Engineer, Mentor Graphics
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