#1148734 apktool depends transitively on junit

Package:
apktool
Source:
apktool
Description:
tool for reverse engineering Android apk files
Submitter:
Federico Kircheis
Date:
2026-09-22 18:55:02 UTC
Severity:
normal
#1148734#5
Date:
2026-09-22 18:51:44 UTC
From:
To:
Dear Maintainer,


when trying to install apktool on a "clean" machine, apt wants to
install following packages
----
sudo apt install --no-install-recommends apktool
Installing:
   apktool

Installing dependencies:
   android-framework-res        libcommons-cli-java
libjcommander-java             libmaven-shared-io-java
libplexus-interpolation-java   libsnappy-java
   junit                        libcommons-text-java
libjsr305-java                 libmaven-shared-utils-java
libplexus-io-java              libsnappy-jni
   libantlr-java                liberror-prone-java
libmaven-archiver-java         libmaven3-core-java
libplexus-sec-dispatcher-java  libstringtemplate-java
   libantlr3-runtime-java       libgeronimo-annotation-1.3-spec-java
libmaven-file-management-java  libplexus-archiver-java
libplexus-utils2-java          libwagon-provider-api-java
   libaopalliance-java          libgeronimo-interceptor-3.0-spec-java
libmaven-jar-plugin-java       libplexus-cipher-java
libsisu-inject-java            libxmlunit-java
   libatinject-jsr330-api-java  libguava-java
libmaven-parent-java           libplexus-classworlds-java
libsisu-plexus-java            libxpp3-java
   libcdi-api-java              libguice-java
libmaven-resolver-java         libplexus-component-annotations-java
libsmali-java                  libyaml-snake-java

Suggested packages:
   junit-doc  libatinject-jsr330-api-java-doc  libel-api-java
libjcommander-java-doc  libjsr305-java-doc
libmaven-file-management-java-doc  liblogback-java
libplexus-utils2-java-doc  testng

Summary:
   Upgrading: 0, Installing: 43, Removing: 0, Not Upgrading: 8
   Download size: 24.1 MB / 30.1 MB
   Space needed: 74.3 MB
----

Considering that apktool can be downloaded as a single jar file (
https://apktool.org/docs/install/ ) for less than 20MB (space needed),
and works without junit, it is a lot of space and dependencies.

The output of apt show is
---- apt show apktool | cat Package: apktool Version: 2.7.0+dfsg-7.2 Priority: optional Section: devel Maintainer: Android Tools Maintainers <android-tools-devel@lists.alioth.debian.org> Installed-Size: 275 kB Depends: aapt, android-framework-res, default-jre-headless | java8-runtime-headless, libantlr3-runtime-java, libcommons-cli-java, libcommons-io-java, libcommons-lang3-java, libcommons-text-java, libguava-java, libsmali-java (>= 2.4.0), libstringtemplate-java, libxmlunit-java, libxpp3-java, libyaml-snake-java (>= 2.5+ds) Homepage: https://ibotpeaches.github.io/Apktool/ Download-Size: 223 kB APT-Sources: https://deb.debian.org/debian testing/main amd64 Packages Description: tool for reverse engineering Android apk files A tool for reverse engineering 3rd party, closed, binary Android apps. It can decode resources to nearly original form and rebuild them after making some modifications; it makes possible to debug smali code step by step. Also it makes working with an app easier because of project-like file structure and automation of some repetitive tasks like building apk. ---- I'm not sure what dependencies except for a jdk are really required, but junit should not be one.