Git as a BuildRequires (packaging)

Hi All,

Recently we've hit an issue where a new package being reviewed for Fedora (cgit) needs to build against the git headers. The problem is that these headers aren't typically installed with the git package itself, and we have no git-devel subpackage either. This is mostly due to the fact that from what I can tell the upstream git Makefile doesn't install the headers anywhere.

There are a few options here. The first is to install the git headers and create a git-devel subpackage. That seems like overkill, given that the git headers are generically named and would have to be installed to something like /usr/include/git/.

The second option is to create a patch file that includes all the needed headers and use that in the cgit package. That is sort of sub-optimal given that you'd have to keep checking (and possibly regenerating) the patch for correctness every time a new version of git comes out.

The third option is to include the entire git tarball as part of the sources for the package. That is pretty easily done with the Fedora infrastructure, but isn't exactly clean from a packaging standpoint.

So, what do the git gurus recommend? I'm not sure if other distros have tackled this problem before, but some kind of commonality for the 'how do you package things that need to build against git' question would be nice.

(Please CC me. I can't remember if I'm still subscribed to the git list or not.)

thx, josh