Declaring non-Python dependencies

[jayvdb]

It would be nice if there was a consistent format for declaring non-Python dependencies.

In many cases they are missing. e.g.
https://bumblebee-status.readthedocs.io/en/main/modules.html#deadbeef mentioned subprocess, which implies it was invoking an executable, but none is mentioned.

As these tend to be OS specific names, I suggest using Repology names in the module metadata. e.g. deadbeef = https://repology.org/project/deadbeef/versions . These identifiers may then be auto-linked in the generated documentation. Repology provides the mapping to distro packages, so users can see the appropriate package name for their distro, and we can also build scripts to work out which distros dont have some binary dependencies. We could also generate a command for each distro which would install all available binary dependencies for that distro.

I have a mostly complete list of executable dependencies per module at https://build.opensuse.org/package/show/X11:windowmanagers/bumblebee-status , but for common executable dependencies they are Requires: or Recommends: at the top level, not per module. e.g. https://repology.org/project/psmisc/versions and https://repology.org/project/wireless-tools/versions are needed by a few modules.

[jayvdb]

Note all PyPI deps can also be resolved on Repology using a python: prefix.
e.g. https://repology.org/project/python:libvirt-python/versions is https://pypi.org/project/libvirt-python/

[tobi-wan-kenobi]

Thank you, I did not know that.

[ahormann]

Chiming in here with the solution to a problem that bugged me A WHILE.
Your Docs (and about the entire internet) says to install tkinter with "usually python-tk or python3-tk, depending on your distribution".
Only this comment pointed me to installing tk using pacman (without python-prefix or anything) on my Manjaro-Machine.
Since this project relies quite heavily on tkinter, i suggest including this in the docs.

[tobi-wan-kenobi]

yes, that is a very good point, thank you!