chore: make chronic (from moreutils) an optional build dependency

Sponsored-by: author

2 files changed, 6 insertions, 2 deletions

diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
index dd9240e..11dabc5 100644
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -49,7 +49,8 @@ merely for building Debian packages:
 
 * [moreutils](https://joeyh.name/code/moreutils/) — a collection
   of handy utilities, of which the Obnam test suite uses the `chronic`
-  tool to hide output of successful commands.
+  tool to hide output of successful commands. This is optional, but
+  nice to have.
 
 * [pkg-config](http://pkg-config.freedesktop.org) — a tool for
   managing compile and link time flags; needed so that the OpenSSL
diff --git a/check b/check
index 7d5098c..2da9a65 100755
--- a/check
+++ b/check
@@ -5,6 +5,10 @@
 set -eu
 
 hideok=chronic
+if ! command -v chronic >/dev/null; then
+	hideok=
+fi
+
 if [ "$#" -gt 0 ]; then
 	case "$1" in
 	verbose | -v | --verbose)
@@ -31,7 +35,6 @@ require_cmd cargo
 require_cmd python3
 require_cmd subplot
 require_cmd summain
-require_cmd chronic
 require_cmd pkg-config
 require_cmd pandoc
 require_cmd pdflatex