> Dependence means completely reliant on - no substitutions would do. I disagree with that. Package managers have concepts like optional dependencies or alter

> Dependence means completely reliant on - no substitutions would do. I disagree with that. Package managers have concepts like optional dependencies or alternatives (only 1 of multiple options required). Anyway, you seem to be speaking of dependencies in a technical sense - build dependencies, package dependencies, etc. In a more general sense it is quite normal to say something like "I depend on my bike to get to work" even if I could take the subway or use Uber, or "I depend on YouTube for my daily dose of cat videos" even though you wouldn't really die without them.