[Rpm-maint] rpm-python mandatory or optional?

[Ralf Corsepius]

Him

rpm.org's rpm's configure fails to build "python/" if python-devel isn't
installed.

Fixing this issue is not too difficult, but to be able to do so, I'd
need to know what the nominal desired behavior is supposed to be.

Question: Are rpm's python binding considered mandatory or optional?

Depending on the answer, the configure script should either
a) complain and abort when running "configure"
b) silently build rpm without python bindings

I see traces of (broken, non-functional) attempts to implement b) in
rpm/configure.ac

Ralf