If I have more dependencies listed than I actually need, what is the easiest way to check?
Where is the easiest place to see the list of packages that don't need to be explicitly declared?  Which, if I understand correctly, should be all the bootstrap packages.

I would like to add a Packaging 101 to the wiki where I explain quick and dirty ways to get a package running.

My typical method:

• Add the make jobs to my ./etc/conf

• Find source I want to package. 

• Look at list of depends if the dev has it readily available.

• Find the equivalent void packages that have those depends.  If the depends have a 32bit version, add it to target, if not, add it to host

• Add them to a template along with all the basic information.

• Tell xbps to install

• grab the checksum from hostdir, add it to the template, and run again. -- Can also download the file separately but I prefer to do it this way for consistency

• Notice any config errors and add more dependencies.

Keep going about it that way till it builds, if there are other strange errors I take a look at the AUR to see if they patch it.  At that point I'll either make a patch or try to run a GIT version.

If I have any questions I consult the Manual religiously.  If I still can't figure it out I'd post to google+, thankfully now people are using this forum so I can post here.

As for the "depends" line, I'm also not sure how to figure out everything a package depends on.  If I check the dependencies on package foo after I build it, and I haven't added any depends, will it still list the depends I need to add to the template?  Or does xbps-query get it's depends information from the built package?

I'd like to refine my process here with knowledge from the community before doing a write up on the wiki.

Things that I'd like to add to the wiki:

• my process, as noted above

• an example of each build style with explanations

• an example without a build style

• How to install a custom built package

If you've gotten this far, thanks for taking the time and I hope I can get some new insight on how I suck at packaging ^_^