Bug#549524: libnet-smtp-ssl-perl should depend on libauthen-sasl-perl

[Alex Schröder]

Well, I don't know enough about Debian to make the correct decision. I
know that the code in question belongs to Net::SMTP – and maybe
Net::SMTP could use a suggestion or whatever it is. But all I know is
that when I use Net::SMTP::SSL to send email via Gmail or some other
mail server that requires authentication, then I will trigger code in
Net::SMTP that will require Authen::SASL. I spent about three hours
wondering what the hell was wrong with my setup on the Debian host
while it was working happily on my Mac OSX system where I had
installed things with CPAN. I had to actually go and read code in
order to figure out what was missing. This can't be right.

So yes, the code in question is found in Net::SMTP, but I've yet to
find a mail server that uses authentication without SSL – therefore I
would not mind if Net::SMTP did not require the installation of
Authen::SASL. But if you install Net::SMTP::SSL, you will require both
Net::SMTP and Authen::SASL.

A Recommends or Suggests could be the right thing – in my case I sent
an email to the administrator, who just installs the package with the
least amount of dependencies. Would a Recommends or Suggests have done
the right thing? My gut feeling says that this situation warrants a
dependency. A requirement.

Regards
Alex


On Sun, Oct 4, 2009 at 17:10, gregor herrmann <gregoa at debian.org> wrote:
> On Sun, 04 Oct 2009 00:26:42 +0200, Alex Schröder wrote:
>
>> libnet-smtp-ssl-perl should depend on libauthen-sasl-perl. I wanted to
>> use Net::SMTP::SSL to send mail; I think the most common reason is
>> that the mail server requires authentication. Thus you will be using
>> the auth method. If you check it out, you'll find the following:
>>
>> sub auth {
>>   my ($self, $username, $password) = @_;
>>
>>   eval {
>>     require MIME::Base64;
>>     require Authen::SASL;
>>   } or $self->set_status(500, ["Need MIME::Base64 and Authen::SASL
>> todo auth"]), return 0;
>>
>> There is therefore a dependency on Authen::SASL. If you don't have
>> that module, sending your email will fail in a non-obvious way:
>
> Ehrm, no, this code is from Net::SMTP, Net::SMTP::SSL just uses
> Net::SMTP and IO::Socket::SSL and doesn't mention/require/use
> Authen::SASL anywhere.
>
> But I can imagine that a Recommends or Suggests on
> libauthen-sasl-perl might be helpful.