build-essential - 12.10 main

If you do not plan to build Debian packages, you don't need this
package. Starting with dpkg (>= 1.14.18) this package is required
for building Debian packages.
.
This package contains an informational list of packages which are
considered essential for building Debian packages. This package also
depends on the packages on that list, to make it easy to have the
build-essential packages installed.
.
If you have this package installed, you only need to install whatever
a package specifies as its build-time dependencies to build the
package. Conversely, if you are determining what your package needs
to build-depend on, you can always leave out the packages this
package depends on.
.
This package is NOT the definition of what packages are
build-essential; the real definition is in the Debian Policy Manual.
This package contains merely an informational list, which is all
most people need. However, if this package and the manual disagree,
the manual is correct.