Git as a BuildRequires (packaging)

[Josh Boyer <jwboyer@gmail.com>]

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