[plug] Dependencies clarification

[Christian]

On Thu, Jan 11, 2001 at 10:52:00AM +0800, Dennis Plester wrote:
 
> My question is this. Are the dependency checks with rpms an actual check for
> the required program, libraries, etc, or just a simple scan of the package
> database, looking for package name matches? If so, this seems simplistic,
> particularly when distributions put their initials in the file/package
> names. Am I risking much when I switch off dependency checks if I'm certain
> the requirements are met?

On Debian they are simply a check in the package database and I'm
positive it's the same in Red Hat et al.  This might seem overly
simplistic but there is no reliable way of doing it otherwise.  In
Debian where essentially all the packages come from the same source,
this isn't much of a problem but obviously in some cases it is for these
other distributions.  You can probably minimise the problem by always
getting packages from your distribution's web site if these are
available.  Perhaps someone with more experience with RPM-based
distributions can provide more comments.