Solved What's the point of those *.var.depend.txt files anyway?

[Case]

Well, this (slightly provocative) questions is actually two questions, really:
1) Do *.var.depend.txt files contain any information that VaM itself makes any use of?
2) Are *.var.depend.txt a leftover from an earlier version of the .var system?

Or, phrased differently: Is it safe to simply delete them?

Why ask this?

Afaics, the *.var.depend.txt files are generated by VaM scanning the dependencies-section of the corresponding meta.json file of the package, extracting "supplementary" information like license status & creator URL. The latter could be potentially interesting for the user, if a dendendency is not Hub-hosted.

But I cannot see any relevance for VaM's internal resource-management? (Afaics, the most important (and reliable) files for VaM's resource-management are the automatically generated .vamcache files - at least for morphs?)

 

[MacGruber]

Or, phrased differently: Is it safe to simply delete them?

Yes, its safe to delete them. Many early hub resources had that file uploaded as a guide for the users, as the Hub was not able to extract the depenedencies on its own. But that feature was added later, so its redundant now. If you need non-Hub dependencies, you should make that clear in the resource description, with matching links.

 

[ZRSX]

1) Do *.var.depend.txt files contain any information that VaM itself makes any use of?
2) Are *.var.depend.txt a leftover from an earlier version of the .var system?

Nope & nope

It is for "human" information.
It's interesting for the creator to quickly check the dependency list after creating a package.
And very useful if you upload stuff in any place other than the Hub. I use it as a basis when describing dependencies on Patreon posts and always upload it with the actual VAR file

On the Hub, as McGruber said, it is indeed useless: no need to upload it nor download it.

 

[Case]

@MacGruber, @ZRSX:

Ok, that's about what I imagined, thx.

 

[Case]

Additional question, if I may?

Afaics, VaM doesn't really need the info listed in the dependencies-section of the meta.json either for it's internal resource-management (provided cache is active) - what it really works off of is the info in the .vamcache files? (at least for textures & morphs)

(You can try deleting the dependencies section in the meta.json -> vam will still load the package)

I know ppl who go so far as to deleting the dependencies-section in all their .vars (via python-script), arguing that whatever advantage that section offers (if indeed it still does - my impression is that VaM doesn't really read the meta.json more than once, and primarily relies on the vamcache files, at least in the latest versions) is more than nullified by the huge number of .vars with horribly nested deps in the meta.json ...

 

[WrongTamago]

Afaics, VaM doesn't really need the info listed in the dependencies-section of the meta.json either for it's internal resource-management (provided cache is active) - what it really works off of is the info in the .vamcache files? (at least for textures & morphs)

I think one thing that VAM uses the dependency section for is to help you automatically download dependencies in-game through the VAM Hub. If you go so far as to delete them from meta.json, then you might not use that feature anyway. Deleting the references pretty much only helps in cleaning up warnings in the log.