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Appreciate this is a really basic question, but I've read that the dev packages are for headers for building extensions? Is that all? What can I not do without dev packages and vice-versa? If I don't install the dev packages what ramifications will it have?

Thanks!

John Von Neumann
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    It's a good question. As described [here](https://stackoverflow.com/a/2358835/3697870) it's always seemed to me to be oddly redundant that a development library would need a -dev version. – Heath Raftery Jan 19 '18 at 03:43
  • @HeathRaftery Thanks for that link! I don't know why I thought my question was python specific haha. – John Von Neumann Jan 19 '18 at 03:47
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    Packages aren't built by the Python team proper, and they aren't part of Linux itself, either -- they're **specific to your individual distribution** (incidentally, porting and packaging for an embedded Linux distro was, circa 1999-2000, my first job for a "real" tech company). This question really should specify that individual distro, or even be asked in a distro-specific context (ie. [ubuntu.se]), as details differ: For example, some distros may include static libraries in development packages, while others may not ship them at all. – Charles Duffy Jan 19 '18 at 04:51

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