Could somebody explain to me like I'm 5 the implications of 'hostmakedepends' vs 'makedepends', ideally by giving an example?

[dogknowsnx]

My goal is to optimize/create "better" templates, and I keep "getting stuck" in the process of deciding which dependency goes where (first).

I do understand the difference between 'host' and 'target', but looking over templates randomly, I'm getting the sense that I'm not the only one being slightly confused, since both arrays will see to it that required packages will be installed to the master directory, anyway.

Thanks for reading and maybe helping me in better understanding Void's build infrastructure.

[Duncaen]

Its for cross compiling, hostmakedepends are installed for the host architecture, makedepends are installed for the target architecture. Usually programs that you execute will be in hostmakedepends and libraries you link against go into makedepends.

hostmakedepends are installed into /, when cross compiling makedepends is installed into /usr/${XBPS_TARGET_ARCH} (the XBPS_CROSS_BASE. When you are not cross compiling then they are basically the same and installed into /.

https://github.com/void-linux/void-packages/blob/master/Manual.md#about-the-many-types-of-depends-variables

[dogknowsnx]

I lost my comment by hitting "Mark as answer" first. So basically, since most packages are cross compiled, they require makedepends to be listed separately/explicitly. Thanks for the explanation!

[classabbyamp]

all packages are cross-compiled on aarch64* armv7l* armv6l*