[Bug] - Amazon Linux 2023 Minimal Container image AWS CLI2 installs a lot of packages, working as intended?

[r-heimann]

Describe the bug
Installing AWS CLI2 in the Amazon Linux 2023 Minimal Container image installs the following packages:

Details

+ dnf install -y awscli-2
Package Repository Size
Installing:
awscli-2-2.9.19-1.amzn2023.0.1.noarch                   amazonlinux  10.0 MB
expat-2.5.0-1.amzn2023.0.2.aarch64                      amazonlinux 114.8 kB
gdbm-libs-1:1.19-2.amzn2023.0.2.aarch64                 amazonlinux  54.5 kB
groff-1.22.4-7.amzn2023.0.2.aarch64                     amazonlinux   1.2 MB
groff-base-1.22.4-7.amzn2023.0.2.aarch64                amazonlinux   1.0 MB
libxcrypt-4.4.33-7.amzn2023.aarch64                     amazonlinux 129.8 kB
mkpasswd-5.5.10-1.amzn2023.0.2.aarch64                  amazonlinux  42.0 kB
ncurses-6.2-4.20200222.amzn2023.0.4.aarch64             amazonlinux 404.4 kB
paper-2.3-2.amzn2023.0.3.aarch64                        amazonlinux  33.0 kB
perl-AutoLoader-5.74-477.amzn2023.0.5.noarch            amazonlinux  22.4 kB
perl-B-1.80-477.amzn2023.0.5.aarch64                    amazonlinux 185.0 kB
perl-Carp-1.50-458.amzn2023.0.2.noarch                  amazonlinux  30.1 kB
perl-Class-Struct-0.66-477.amzn2023.0.5.noarch          amazonlinux  23.3 kB
perl-Data-Dumper-2.174-460.amzn2023.0.2.aarch64         amazonlinux  56.1 kB
perl-Digest-1.20-1.amzn2023.0.2.noarch                  amazonlinux  26.7 kB
perl-Digest-MD5-2.58-2.amzn2023.0.2.aarch64             amazonlinux  37.5 kB
perl-DynaLoader-1.47-477.amzn2023.0.5.aarch64           amazonlinux  27.0 kB
perl-Encode-4:3.15-462.amzn2023.0.2.aarch64             amazonlinux   1.8 MB
perl-Errno-1.30-477.amzn2023.0.5.aarch64                amazonlinux  15.9 kB
perl-Exporter-5.74-459.amzn2023.0.2.noarch              amazonlinux  32.2 kB
perl-Fcntl-1.13-477.amzn2023.0.5.aarch64                amazonlinux  21.7 kB
perl-File-Basename-2.85-477.amzn2023.0.5.noarch         amazonlinux  18.2 kB
perl-File-Copy-2.34-477.amzn2023.0.5.noarch             amazonlinux  21.2 kB
perl-File-Path-2.18-2.amzn2023.0.2.noarch               amazonlinux  36.7 kB
perl-File-Temp-1:0.231.100-2.amzn2023.0.2.noarch        amazonlinux  61.2 kB
perl-File-stat-1.09-477.amzn2023.0.5.noarch             amazonlinux  18.2 kB
perl-FileHandle-2.03-477.amzn2023.0.5.noarch            amazonlinux  16.5 kB
perl-Getopt-Long-1:2.52-2.amzn2023.0.2.noarch           amazonlinux  61.5 kB
perl-Getopt-Std-1.12-477.amzn2023.0.5.noarch            amazonlinux  16.6 kB
perl-HTTP-Tiny-0.078-1.amzn2023.0.3.noarch              amazonlinux  57.2 kB
perl-IO-1.43-477.amzn2023.0.5.aarch64                   amazonlinux  89.4 kB
perl-IO-Socket-IP-0.41-3.amzn2023.0.2.noarch            amazonlinux  43.1 kB
perl-IO-Socket-SSL-2.075-1.amzn2023.0.2.noarch          amazonlinux 223.5 kB
perl-IPC-Open3-1.21-477.amzn2023.0.5.noarch             amazonlinux  24.0 kB
perl-IPC-Run3-0.048-21.amzn2023.0.2.noarch              amazonlinux  40.7 kB
perl-MIME-Base64-3.16-2.amzn2023.0.2.aarch64            amazonlinux  32.0 kB
perl-Mozilla-CA-20200520-4.amzn2023.0.2.noarch          amazonlinux  13.0 kB
perl-NDBM_File-1.15-477.amzn2023.0.5.aarch64            amazonlinux  23.2 kB
perl-Net-SSLeay-1.92-2.amzn2023.0.2.aarch64             amazonlinux 376.6 kB
perl-POSIX-1.94-477.amzn2023.0.5.aarch64                amazonlinux  99.8 kB
perl-PathTools-3.78-459.amzn2023.0.2.aarch64            amazonlinux  87.6 kB
perl-Pod-Escapes-1:1.07-458.amzn2023.0.2.noarch         amazonlinux  20.9 kB
perl-Pod-Perldoc-3.28.01-459.amzn2023.0.3.noarch        amazonlinux  85.7 kB
perl-Pod-Simple-1:3.42-2.amzn2023.0.2.noarch            amazonlinux 220.4 kB
perl-Pod-Usage-4:2.01-2.amzn2023.0.2.noarch             amazonlinux  41.9 kB
perl-Scalar-List-Utils-4:1.56-459.amzn2023.0.2.aarch64  amazonlinux  72.2 kB
perl-SelectSaver-1.02-477.amzn2023.0.5.noarch           amazonlinux  12.6 kB
perl-Socket-4:2.032-1.amzn2023.0.2.aarch64              amazonlinux  56.8 kB
perl-Storable-1:3.21-458.amzn2023.0.2.aarch64           amazonlinux  96.4 kB
perl-Symbol-1.08-477.amzn2023.0.5.noarch                amazonlinux  15.1 kB
perl-Term-ANSIColor-5.01-459.amzn2023.0.2.noarch        amazonlinux  49.4 kB
perl-Term-Cap-1.17-458.amzn2023.0.2.noarch              amazonlinux  22.9 kB
perl-Text-ParseWords-3.30-458.amzn2023.0.2.noarch       amazonlinux  17.0 kB
perl-Text-Tabs+Wrap-2021.0726-1.amzn2023.0.1.noarch     amazonlinux  23.0 kB
perl-Time-Local-2:1.300-5.amzn2023.0.2.noarch           amazonlinux  34.9 kB
perl-URI-5.09-1.amzn2023.0.2.noarch                     amazonlinux 111.0 kB
perl-base-2.27-477.amzn2023.0.5.noarch                  amazonlinux  17.2 kB
perl-constant-1.33-459.amzn2023.0.2.noarch              amazonlinux  23.9 kB
perl-if-0.60.800-477.amzn2023.0.5.noarch                amazonlinux  14.9 kB
perl-interpreter-4:5.32.1-477.amzn2023.0.5.aarch64      amazonlinux  73.5 kB
perl-libnet-3.13-2.amzn2023.0.2.noarch                  amazonlinux 128.9 kB
perl-libs-4:5.32.1-477.amzn2023.0.5.aarch64             amazonlinux   2.1 MB
perl-locale-1.09-477.amzn2023.0.5.noarch                amazonlinux  14.6 kB
perl-mro-1.23-477.amzn2023.0.5.aarch64                  amazonlinux  29.3 kB
perl-overload-1.31-477.amzn2023.0.5.noarch              amazonlinux  47.2 kB
perl-overloading-0.02-477.amzn2023.0.5.noarch           amazonlinux  13.8 kB
perl-parent-1:0.238-458.amzn2023.0.2.noarch             amazonlinux  14.8 kB
perl-podlators-1:4.14-458.amzn2023.0.2.noarch           amazonlinux 114.8 kB
perl-subs-1.03-477.amzn2023.0.5.noarch                  amazonlinux  12.6 kB
perl-vars-1.05-477.amzn2023.0.5.noarch                  amazonlinux  13.9 kB
psutils-2.05-1.amzn2023.0.2.noarch                      amazonlinux  51.8 kB
python-unversioned-command-3.9.16-1.amzn2023.0.6.noarch amazonlinux  11.3 kB
python3-3.9.16-1.amzn2023.0.6.aarch64                   amazonlinux  28.6 kB
python3-awscrt-0.16.7-1.amzn2023.0.1.aarch64            amazonlinux   1.4 MB
python3-cffi-1.14.5-1.amzn2023.0.3.aarch64              amazonlinux 252.0 kB
python3-colorama-0.4.4-2.amzn2023.0.2.noarch            amazonlinux  33.8 kB
python3-cryptography-36.0.1-1.amzn2023.0.3.aarch64      amazonlinux   1.2 MB
python3-dateutil-1:2.8.1-3.amzn2023.0.2.noarch          amazonlinux 296.1 kB
python3-distro-1.5.0-5.amzn2023.0.2.noarch              amazonlinux  36.8 kB
python3-docutils-0.16-4.amzn2023.0.2.noarch             amazonlinux   1.6 MB
python3-idna-2.10-3.amzn2023.0.2.noarch                 amazonlinux  95.4 kB
python3-jmespath-0.10.0-1.amzn2023.0.3.noarch           amazonlinux  47.3 kB
python3-libs-3.9.16-1.amzn2023.0.6.aarch64              amazonlinux   7.6 MB
python3-pip-21.3.1-2.amzn2023.0.5.noarch                amazonlinux   1.9 MB
python3-pip-wheel-21.3.1-2.amzn2023.0.5.noarch          amazonlinux   1.2 MB
python3-ply-3.11-11.amzn2023.0.2.noarch                 amazonlinux 105.8 kB
python3-prompt-toolkit-3.0.24-1.amzn2023.0.2.noarch     amazonlinux 622.7 kB
python3-pycparser-2.20-3.amzn2023.0.2.noarch            amazonlinux 128.2 kB
python3-pygments-2.7.4-1.amzn2023.0.2.noarch            amazonlinux   1.9 MB
python3-pysocks-1.7.1-8.amzn2023.0.2.noarch             amazonlinux  34.7 kB
python3-ruamel-yaml-0.16.6-5.amzn2023.0.2.aarch64       amazonlinux 193.9 kB
python3-ruamel-yaml-clib-0.1.2-6.amzn2023.0.2.aarch64   amazonlinux 137.4 kB
python3-setuptools-59.6.0-2.amzn2023.0.4.noarch         amazonlinux 962.8 kB
python3-setuptools-wheel-59.6.0-2.amzn2023.0.4.noarch   amazonlinux 517.5 kB
python3-six-1.15.0-5.amzn2023.0.2.noarch                amazonlinux  37.2 kB
python3-urllib3-1.25.10-5.amzn2023.0.2.noarch           amazonlinux 178.7 kB
python3-wcwidth-0.2.5-3.amzn2023.0.2.noarch             amazonlinux  41.9 kB
tzdata-2023c-1.amzn2023.0.1.noarch                      amazonlinux 443.9 kB
whois-nls-5.5.10-1.amzn2023.0.2.noarch                  amazonlinux  34.5 kB
Transaction Summary:
Installing:       99 packages

Does AWS CLI2 really have that many dependencies? Is this working as intended?

To Reproduce
Steps to reproduce the behavior:

1. Install AWS CLI 2 in the AL2023 Minimal Container Image and check what it wants to install.

Expected behavior
Not entirely sure, maybe less packages? According to the AWS CLI devs "perl-* packages are not related to the AWS CLI"

Screenshots
-

Desktop (please complete the following information):

• OS: Amazon Linux 2023 Minimal Container image

Smartphone (please complete the following information):
-

Additional context
Related to aws/aws-cli#8317

[nmeyerhans]

It's the groff weak dependency that adds all these additional packages. This is needed for formatting the help output supported by the CLI. You can avoid installing it by leaving out weak dependencies, e.g. with dnf install awscli-2 --setopt=install_weak_deps=False. The tradeoff is that help no longer works:

bash-5.2# aws help

Could not find executable named "groff or mandoc"
bash-5.2# aws ec2 help

Could not find executable named "groff or mandoc"

So, I believe that things are, in fact, working as expected. groff is not strictly needed, which is why it's a weak dependency, but it's convenient, which is why it's installed by default.

In theory we could consider an alternate configuration for the container images in general that does not install weak dependencies by default, but I think that would be too big a surprise for most people. The container image should generally behave like any other Amazon Linux installation.

[r-heimann]

It's the groff weak dependency that adds all these additional packages. This is needed for formatting the help output supported by the CLI. You can avoid installing it by leaving out weak dependencies, e.g. with dnf install awscli-2 --setopt=install_weak_deps=False. The tradeoff is that help no longer works:

bash-5.2# aws help

Could not find executable named "groff or mandoc"
bash-5.2# aws ec2 help

Could not find executable named "groff or mandoc"

So, I believe that things are, in fact, working as expected. groff is not strictly needed, which is why it's a weak dependency, but it's convenient, which is why it's installed by default.

In theory we could consider an alternate configuration for the container images in general that does not install weak dependencies by default, but I think that would be too big a surprise for most people. The container image should generally behave like any other Amazon Linux installation.

Got it, learned something new today. Thank you!