Red Hat Bugzilla – Bug 848435
varnish package requires gcc
Last modified: 2012-08-15 12:15:36 EDT
Description of problem: Installing varnish also installs the GCC compiler (and gcc's dependencies), adding a package that does not belong on a production system and a number of unnecessary gcc-dependent packages such as glibc-devel. Version-Release number of selected component (if applicable): varnish.x86_64 0:2.1.5-1.el6 How reproducible: Always Steps to Reproduce: 1. yum install varnish 2. observe: "--> Processing Dependency: gcc for package: varnish-2.1.5-1.el6.x86_64" 3. Actual results: Installs a compiler on what may be a production system. Expected results: No compiler. Additional info: Perhaps the GCC requirement should be a build requirement.
This is a FAQ, often asked because one does not know the nature of Varnish. In short, to make Varnish usable, gcc is needed, even on production systems. Quoting Poul-Henning Kamp, Varnish' main developer: ( https://www.varnish-cache.org/docs/2.1/faq/general.html ) Why does Varnish require the system to have a C compiler? The VCL compiler generates C source as output (your config file), and uses the systems C-compiler to compile that into a shared library. If there is no C compiler, Varnish will not work. Isn’t that security problem? The days when you could prevent people from running non-approved programs by removing the C compiler from your system ended roughly with the VAX 11/780 computer.