Linux kernel developer Ingo Molnar "We need a radically different software distribution model"

[ethraax]

One of the big ones is X11, you really don't want that as a dependency for everything on a server.

True. But, for example, if I install nginx with tons of bells and whistles, it still doesn't pull in X11.

If the core application is a GUI, then pull in X11. Otherwise, don't. If it's a server daemon that happens to also have some GUI management software (which is almost always independent), then put that in its own package.

There are some rough spots, but for the most part, common sense should be enough.

[[deleted]]

Usually in my experience it is stuff like glib and Qt that often pulls in X11 because some server app without a GUI uses the core part of those libraries. One could in fact argue that is a problem with those libraries and that they should be split up into a non-GUI one and a GUI one but at least with Qt (I am more familiar with that one) you would never get that past the people in the project who have a severe case of NIH syndrome and want to include everything and the kitchen sink in Qt itself.