mongodb-stable Ubuntu package: why the heck so many dependencies?

[EugZol]

I've tried to install Ubuntu mongodb-stable package on Ubuntu Server
10.4 and here what I got from apt-get:

The following NEW packages will be installed:
aspell{a} aspell-en{a} consolekit{a} cvs{a} dbus{a} dbus-x11{a}
debhelper{a} defoma{a} dictionaries-common{a} fontconfig{a}
fontconfig-config{a} gconf2{a} gconf2-common{a} gettext{a}
hicolor-icon-theme{a} html2text{a} hunspell-en-us{a} intltool-
debian{a}
libasound2{a} libaspell15{a} libatk1.0-0{a} libatk1.0-data{a}
libatk1.0-dev{a} libavahi-client3{a} libavahi-common-data{a}
libavahi-common3{a} libcairo2{a} libcairo2-dev{a} libck-
connector0{a}
libcroco3{a} libcups2{a} libdatrie1{a} libdbus-1-dev{a}
libdbus-glib-1-dev{a} libdirectfb-1.2-0{a} libdirectfb-dev{a}
libdirectfb-extra{a} libeggdbus-1-0{a} libenchant1c2a{a} libexpat1-
dev{a}
libfile-copy-recursive-perl{a} libfontconfig1{a} libfontconfig1-
dev{a}
libfontenc1{a} libfreetype6-dev{a} libgconf2-4{a} libglade2-0{a}
libglib2.0-dev{a} libgstreamer0.10-0{a} libgtk2.0-0{a} libgtk2.0-
bin{a}
libgtk2.0-common{a} libgtk2.0-dev{a} libhunspell-1.2-0{a} libice-
dev{a}
libice6{a} libidl0{a} libiw-dev{a} libjasper1{a} libjpeg62{a}
libjpeg62-dev{a} libmail-sendmail-perl{a} libnotify-dev{a}
libnotify1{a}
libnspr4-0d{a} libnspr4-dev{a} libnss3-1d{a} libnss3-dev{a}
liborbit2{a}
libpam-ck-connector{a} libpango1.0-0{a} libpango1.0-common{a}
libpango1.0-dev{a} libpixman-1-0{a} libpixman-1-dev{a} libpng12-
dev{a}
libpolkit-gobject-1-0{a} libpthread-stubs0{a} libpthread-stubs0-
dev{a}
libsexy2{a} libsm-dev{a} libsm6{a} libstartup-notification0{a}
libsys-hostname-long-perl{a} libsysfs-dev{a} libsysfs2{a} libthai-
data{a}
libthai0{a} libtiff4{a} libts-0.0-0{a} libwnck-common{a}
libwnck22{a}
libx11-dev{a} libxau-dev{a} libxcb-atom1{a} libxcb-aux0{a}
libxcb-event1{a} libxcb-render-util0{a} libxcb-render-util0-dev{a}
libxcb-render0{a} libxcb-render0-dev{a} libxcb1-dev{a}
libxcomposite-dev{a} libxcomposite1{a} libxcursor-dev{a}
libxcursor1{a}
libxdamage-dev{a} libxdamage1{a} libxdmcp-dev{a} libxext-dev{a}
libxfixes-dev{a} libxfixes3{a} libxfont1{a} libxft-dev{a}
libxft2{a}
libxi-dev{a} libxi6{a} libxinerama-dev{a} libxinerama1{a}
libxml2-utils{a} libxrandr-dev{a} libxrandr2{a} libxrender-dev{a}
libxrender1{a} libxres1{a} libxt6{a} mongodb-stable
notification-daemon{a} pkg-config{a} po-debconf{a} shared-mime-
info{a}
tsconf{a} ttf-dejavu-core{a} update-inetd{a} x-ttcidfont-conf{a}
x11-common{a} x11proto-composite-dev{a} x11proto-core-dev{a}
x11proto-damage-dev{a} x11proto-fixes-dev{a} x11proto-input-dev{a}
x11proto-kb-dev{a} x11proto-randr-dev{a} x11proto-render-dev{a}
x11proto-xext-dev{a} x11proto-xinerama-dev{a} xfonts-encodings{a}
xfonts-utils{a} xtrans-dev{a} xulrunner-1.9.2{a} xulrunner-1.9.2-
dev{a}
0 packages upgraded, 151 newly installed, 0 to remove and 8 not
upgraded.
Need to get 66.2MB of archives. After unpacking 246MB will be used.

Why the heck I need x11, gtk, aspell, cvs(?!), ... and all of the
other useless stuff mentioned? Is there a package of mongodb somewhere
that works without these ridiculous dependencies?

Thanks in advance,
Eugene

[Eliot Horowitz]

Ou can use the official ones:
http://www.mongodb.org/display/DOCS/Ubuntu+and+Debian+packages

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[Michael Schurter]

That is the official deb. My advice is to always use the tarballs on
production servers as those are what 10gen runs regression tests
against. I only use the debs on development workstations as the
dependencies are ridiculous.

The packages are also kept up to date with their corresponding git
branches. While handy this means even the stable deb changes often,
and the changelog included in the deb is worthless. Following commits
on github is the only way to know if you should upgrade your package
or not.

[akaihola]

There's gotta have been some mistake when creating that package, since
most of the dependencies make no sense at all for a database server.

Also, I wonder why the stable package only shows a date and not a real
version number? Aren't stable versions of mongodb given version
numbers?