Package: hx
Version: 25.01.1-4
Severity: normal


Hello People that package Helix-Editor,
Hello Jonas,


Helix depends on libc6 and libgcc-s1.

However way more dependencies want to be installed.

How to reduce the amount of "dependencies"?


<screenshot>
stappers@buzz:~
$ sudo apt install hx
[sudo] password for stappers:
Installing:
  hx

Installing dependencies:
  binutils                   gcc-14-x86-64-linux-gnu  libisl23
  binutils-common            gcc-x86-64-linux-gnu     libitm1
  binutils-x86-64-linux-gnu  libasan8                 liblsan0
  cpp                        libbinutils              libmpc3
  cpp-14                     libc-dev-bin             libquadmath0
  cpp-14-x86-64-linux-gnu    libc6-dev                libsframe1
  cpp-x86-64-linux-gnu       libcc1-0                 libstdc++-14-dev
  g++                        libcrypt-dev             libtsan2
  g++-14                     libctf-nobfd0            libubsan1
  g++-14-x86-64-linux-gnu    libctf0                  linux-libc-dev
  g++-x86-64-linux-gnu       libgcc-14-dev            manpages-dev
  gcc                        libgprofng0              rpcsvc-proto
  gcc-14                     libhwasan0

Suggested packages:
  binutils-doc     automake              elvish
  gprofng-gui      libtool               fortran-language-server
  binutils-gold    flex                  gopls
  cpp-doc          bison                 lldb
  gcc-14-locales   gdb                   perlnavigator
  cpp-14-doc       gcc-doc               python3-pylsp
  g++-multilib     gcc-14-multilib       qt6-declarative-dev-tools
  g++-14-multilib  gdb-x86-64-linux-gnu  libc-devtools
  gcc-14-doc       clangd                glibc-doc
  gcc-multilib     delve                 libstdc++-14-doc
  make             dhall
  autoconf         elan

Summary:
  Upgrading: 0, Installing: 39, Removing: 0, Not Upgrading: 0
  Download size: 78.0 MB
  Space needed: 299 MB / 138 GB available

Continue? [Y/n] n
Abort.
stappers@buzz:~
$ apt show hx
Package: hx
Version: 25.01.1-4
Priority: optional
Section: editors
Maintainer: Jonas Smedegaard <dr@jones.dk>
Installed-Size: 19.9 MB
Provides: editor
Depends: libc6 (>= 2.39), libgcc-s1 (>= 4.2)
Recommends: g++
Suggests: bash-completion, clangd, delve, dhall, elan, elvish, fortran-language>
Homepage: https://helix-editor.com/
Download-Size: 5425 kB
APT-Sources: mirror+file:/etc/apt/mirrors/debian.list trixie/main amd64 Packages
Description: modal CLI text editor Helix
 Helix (hx) is a text editor
 with a modal user interface.
 It aims to be more efficient than Vim and Neovim,
 by implementing select modern features in the core
 and omitting a plugin system.
 .
 Features:
  * Vim-like modal editing
  * Multiple selections (inspired by Kakoune)
  * Built-in language server support (LSP)
  * Smart, incremental syntax highlighting and code editing
    (via tree-sitter)

stappers@buzz:~
$
</screenshot>


Groeten
Geert Stappers

Hi Geert,

Quoting Geert Stappers (2026-01-30 12:33:38)

Your stating facts about the amounts of dependencies and suggestions
does not reveal which actual issue you want to raise here.

I mean, if you want an editor with a smaller footprint, then one
solution is to pick a less complex editor than Helix. And if you want
Helix, specifically, but with LSP support only for Python and Fortran,
then please describe that, and we can discuss the viability of the hx
package providing a metapackage depending on hx and the specific LSP
servers for those two languages, while not suggesting any others than
such users might be intimidated by having suggested to them for their
more narrow scope of use.

But really, I cannot guess from what you have written so far, what it
is you would like this bugreport to achieve.

Kind regards,

 - Jonas