Arch Linux

archuser9787878

Member

Registered: 2026-04-04

Posts: 2

[SOLVED]waybar: move gpsd from depends to optdepends?

Hi,

The waybar package currently has gpsd as a hard dependency. However:

1. The GPS module requires a physical GPS receiver (USB/serial device) connected to the computer [1]
2. This is a niche use case (mobile navigation, marine, field surveying) - not typical for desktop workstations
3. Most users get no benefit, but are forced to install gpsd and xgps (which clutters app launchers)

Other location features (like weather modules) use WiFi/IP geolocation and don't need gpsd [2].

Gentoo already treats gps as an optional USE flag [3]. Could Arch move gpsd to optdepends?

Suggested:
optdepends=('gpsd: GPS receiver support for location module')

[1] https://man.archlinux.org/man/extra/way … r-gps.5.en
[2] https://github.com/wneessen/waybar-weather/
[3] https://wiki.gentoo.org/wiki/Waybar

Edit: I tried opening a GitLab issue, but new accounts require manual approval + 2FA setup. If any maintainer sees this and agrees, could you help forward this to GitLab? Or point me to the right channel. Thanks.

Last edited by archuser9787878 (2026-04-04 12:20:46)

StarWolf3000

Member

Registered: 2025-06-23

Posts: 71

Re: [SOLVED]waybar: move gpsd from depends to optdepends?

Upstream discussion: https://github.com/Alexays/Waybar/issues/4276

There's a replacement PKGBUILD in the AUR which disables gpsd (and also cava) by default unless you provide env variables to enable (and you have to update the PKGBUILD first to reflect the latest version of waybar).

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Scimmia

Fellow

Registered: 2012-09-01

Posts: 13,712

Re: [SOLVED]waybar: move gpsd from depends to optdepends?

Build time optional and run time optional are very different things. Your suggestion CANNOT work, it's either built with gpsd support and requires the package or it's not.

archuser9787878

Member

Registered: 2026-04-04

Posts: 2

Re: [SOLVED]waybar: move gpsd from depends to optdepends?

Thanks for the clarification.

Last edited by archuser9787878 (2026-04-04 12:33:08)