[Discussion] : What should we consider as depenencies and optional dependencies

[TheOneWithTheBraid]

I recently changed the core dependencies onto the basics needed to run Flutter according to official docs (and a bug linked).

I was at that time stumbling over the issue what t consider as dependency, what to consider as opt depends.

There might be two approaches :

1. Seeing Flutter as tool :

• only include the dependencies required to successfully run the Flutter tool
• any dependency needed for platform-specific builds (Android, Linux) is optional
• this has the advantage to keep it as minimal as possible
• in a use case one only builds Linux apps e.g., the Android toolchain would not be installed

2. Seeing Flutter as dev dependency for other packages

• include everything required to run the Flutter tool and to build other Arch packages (Linux toolchain)
• make Android dependencies optional
• makes it easy for other packages to depend on Flutter as make dependency

Open questions in both cases are whether or how to list dependencies like Chromium (explicitly checked by Flutter doctor) and Android Studio, IDEA, VSCodium etc. In case one assumes one gets the full Flutter tool chain with all included dependencies for platform specific builds by simply installing all optional depenencies - in this case, a giant overhead would be installed definitely not needed for building Flutter apps.

I'd like to discuss this at this place.