awscli (on Linux, at least) seems to want to install some radical deps

[rjray]

The last time I updated awscli, it ended up installing a lot of extra stuff to satisfy the groff dependency. Today I saw another update, so I started an upgrade and now it wants to install freeglut as a dependency. Is there something about a CLI tool needing FreeGLUT that I don't quite understand?

[iMichka]

You can have a look at the dependency tree like this:
brew deps --tree awscli:
awscli -> groff -> netpbm -> jasper -> freeglut

Of course, if you think that groff is not needed for awscli, and we can build without it, a pull request is welcome. We often add dependencies because the build fails without it. But we are open to reduce the size of the dependency tree if we can.

[rjray]

Unfortunately, I don't have the background to diagnose a homebrew recipe. I just find it odd that the package needs groff to run. To build, perhaps, but to run? I generally install from bottles, so I should have only needed run-time dependencies, right?

[carlocab]

The docs suggest that groff is a runtime dependency: https://docs.aws.amazon.com/cli/latest/userguide/install-cliv2-linux.html

Admittedly, the docs don't explicitly say that it's a runtime dependency, only that it is a prerequisite. However, their installation instructions just involve an install script that doesn't build anything, so I doubt they would list it as a prerequisite if it were only a build dependency.

[gromgit]

I just find it odd that the package needs groff to run.

The docs say that text table output is an option. Odds are good that awscli "outsources" this to tbl, which is part of groff.