Split the wine helper into it's own package.

distro-packages/Arch-Linux/cthulhu-git/PKGBUILD

@@ -2,10 +2,10 @@
 # shellcheck shell=bash disable=SC2034,SC2154,SC2164
 
 pkgbase=cthulhu-git
-pkgname=(cthulhu-git cthulhu-wine-access-git)
+pkgname=cthulhu-git
 _pkgname=cthulhu
-pkgver=2026.05.25.r423.g0576b6f
-pkgrel=2
+pkgver=2026.07.18.r465.g050ae25
+pkgrel=1
 pkgdesc="Desktop-agnostic screen reader with plugin system, forked from Orca"
 url="https://git.stormux.org/storm/cthulhu"
 arch=(x86_64 aarch64 armv7h)
@@ -73,10 +73,6 @@ makedepends=(
   git
   meson
 )
-makedepends_x86_64=(
-  cmake
-  wine
-)
 source=("${_pkgname}::git+https://git.stormux.org/storm/${_pkgname}.git#branch=master")
 sha512sums=('SKIP')
 
@@ -96,35 +92,19 @@ pkgver() {
 
 build() {
   cd "${_pkgname}"
-  arch-meson _build
+  arch-meson _build -Dwine-access=disabled
   meson compile -C _build
 }
 
-package_cthulhu-git() {
+package() {
   arch=(any)
   provides=("cthulhu=${pkgver}")
   conflicts=(cthulhu)
   cd "${_pkgname}"
   meson install -C _build --destdir "$pkgdir"
 
-  rm -rf "$pkgdir/usr/libexec/cthulhu/wine"
-
   # Remove icon cache - it will be generated by post-install hooks
   rm -f "$pkgdir/usr/share/icons/hicolor/icon-theme.cache"
 }
 
-package_cthulhu-wine-access-git() {
-  pkgdesc="Wine and Proton accessibility bridge for Cthulhu"
-  arch=(x86_64)
-  depends=("cthulhu-git=${pkgver}" glib2 wine)
-  provides=(cthulhu-wine-access)
-  conflicts=(cthulhu-wine-access)
-
-  cd "${_pkgname}"
-  install -Dm755 _build/cthulhu-wine-access.exe \
-    "$pkgdir/usr/libexec/cthulhu/wine/cthulhu-wine-access.exe"
-  install -Dm755 _build/cthulhu-wine-access.exe.so \
-    "$pkgdir/usr/libexec/cthulhu/wine/cthulhu-wine-access.exe.so"
-}
-
 # vim:set sw=2 sts=-1 et:

distro-packages/Arch-Linux/cthulhu-wine-access-git/PKGBUILD

@@ -0,0 +1,55 @@
+# Maintainer: Storm Dragon <storm_dragon@stormux.org>
+# shellcheck shell=bash disable=SC2034,SC2154,SC2164
+
+pkgname=cthulhu-wine-access-git
+_pkgname=cthulhu
+pkgver=2026.07.18.r465.g050ae25
+pkgrel=1
+pkgdesc="Optional Wine and Proton accessibility bridge for Cthulhu"
+url="https://git.stormux.org/storm/cthulhu"
+arch=(x86_64)
+license=(LGPL-2.1-or-later)
+depends=(
+  "cthulhu-git=${pkgver}"
+  glib2
+  wine
+)
+makedepends=(
+  cmake
+  git
+  meson
+)
+provides=(cthulhu-wine-access)
+conflicts=(cthulhu-wine-access)
+source=("${_pkgname}::git+https://git.stormux.org/storm/${_pkgname}.git#branch=master")
+sha512sums=('SKIP')
+
+pkgver() {
+  cd "${_pkgname}"
+  local projectVersion revisionCount commitHash
+
+  projectVersion=$(sed -n "s/^[[:space:]]*version: '\([^']*\)'.*/\1/p" meson.build)
+  projectVersion=${projectVersion%-master}
+  projectVersion=${projectVersion//-/.}
+  [[ -n "${projectVersion}" ]] || return 1
+
+  revisionCount=$(git rev-list --count HEAD)
+  commitHash=$(git rev-parse --short=7 HEAD)
+  printf "%s.r%s.g%s\n" "${projectVersion}" "${revisionCount}" "${commitHash}"
+}
+
+build() {
+  cd "${_pkgname}"
+  arch-meson _build -Dwine-access=enabled
+  meson compile -C _build
+}
+
+package() {
+  cd "${_pkgname}"
+  install -Dm755 _build/cthulhu-wine-access.exe \
+    "$pkgdir/usr/libexec/cthulhu/wine/cthulhu-wine-access.exe"
+  install -Dm755 _build/cthulhu-wine-access.exe.so \
+    "$pkgdir/usr/libexec/cthulhu/wine/cthulhu-wine-access.exe.so"
+}
+
+# vim:set sw=2 sts=-1 et:

distro-packages/Arch-Linux/cthulhu-wine-access/PKGBUILD

@@ -0,0 +1,37 @@
+# Maintainer: Storm Dragon <storm_dragon@stormux.org>
+# shellcheck shell=bash disable=SC2034,SC2154,SC2164
+
+pkgname=cthulhu-wine-access
+pkgver=2026.07.18
+pkgrel=1
+pkgdesc="Optional Wine and Proton accessibility bridge for Cthulhu"
+url="https://git.stormux.org/storm/cthulhu"
+arch=(x86_64)
+license=(LGPL-2.1-or-later)
+depends=(
+  "cthulhu=${pkgver}"
+  glib2
+  wine
+)
+makedepends=(
+  cmake
+  meson
+)
+source=("git+https://git.stormux.org/storm/cthulhu.git#tag=${pkgver}")
+sha512sums=('SKIP')
+
+build() {
+  cd cthulhu
+  arch-meson _build -Dwine-access=enabled
+  meson compile -C _build
+}
+
+package() {
+  cd cthulhu
+  install -Dm755 _build/cthulhu-wine-access.exe \
+    "$pkgdir/usr/libexec/cthulhu/wine/cthulhu-wine-access.exe"
+  install -Dm755 _build/cthulhu-wine-access.exe.so \
+    "$pkgdir/usr/libexec/cthulhu/wine/cthulhu-wine-access.exe.so"
+}
+
+# vim:set sw=2 sts=-1 et:

distro-packages/Arch-Linux/cthulhu/PKGBUILD

@@ -2,7 +2,7 @@
 # shellcheck shell=bash disable=SC2034,SC2154,SC2164
 
 pkgbase=cthulhu
-pkgname=(cthulhu cthulhu-wine-access)
+pkgname=cthulhu
 pkgver=2026.07.18
 pkgrel=1
 pkgdesc="Desktop-agnostic screen reader with plugin system, forked from Orca"
@@ -70,44 +70,24 @@ makedepends=(
   git
   meson
 )
-makedepends_x86_64=(
-  cmake
-  wine
-)
 source=("git+https://git.stormux.org/storm/cthulhu.git#tag=${pkgver}")
 sha512sums=('SKIP')
 
 build() {
   cd cthulhu
-  arch-meson _build
+  arch-meson _build -Dwine-access=disabled
   meson compile -C _build
 }
 
-package_cthulhu() {
+package() {
   arch=(any)
   provides=("cthulhu=${pkgver}")
   conflicts=(cthulhu)
   cd cthulhu
   meson install -C _build --destdir "$pkgdir"
 
-  rm -rf "$pkgdir/usr/libexec/cthulhu/wine"
-
   # Remove icon cache - it will be generated by post-install hooks
   rm -f "$pkgdir/usr/share/icons/hicolor/icon-theme.cache"
 }
 
-package_cthulhu-wine-access() {
-  pkgdesc="Wine and Proton accessibility bridge for Cthulhu"
-  arch=(x86_64)
-  depends=("cthulhu=${pkgver}" glib2 wine)
-  provides=(cthulhu-wine-access)
-  conflicts=(cthulhu-wine-access)
-
-  cd cthulhu
-  install -Dm755 _build/cthulhu-wine-access.exe \
-    "$pkgdir/usr/libexec/cthulhu/wine/cthulhu-wine-access.exe"
-  install -Dm755 _build/cthulhu-wine-access.exe.so \
-    "$pkgdir/usr/libexec/cthulhu/wine/cthulhu-wine-access.exe.so"
-}
-
 # vim:set sw=2 sts=-1 et:

tests/test_arch_pkgbuild_optional_wine.py

@@ -0,0 +1,45 @@
+import unittest
+from pathlib import Path
+
+
+class ArchPkgbuildOptionalWineTests(unittest.TestCase):
+    @classmethod
+    def setUpClass(cls):
+        repository = Path(__file__).resolve().parents[1]
+        cls.pkgbuilds = [
+            repository / "distro-packages" / "Arch-Linux" / name / "PKGBUILD"
+            for name in ("cthulhu", "cthulhu-git")
+        ]
+        cls.helperPkgbuilds = [
+            repository / "distro-packages" / "Arch-Linux" / name / "PKGBUILD"
+            for name in ("cthulhu-wine-access", "cthulhu-wine-access-git")
+        ]
+
+    def test_main_packages_disable_wine_helper_build(self):
+        for pkgbuild in self.pkgbuilds:
+            with self.subTest(pkgbuild=pkgbuild):
+                contents = pkgbuild.read_text(encoding="utf-8")
+                self.assertIn("-Dwine-access=disabled", contents)
+
+    def test_main_packages_do_not_depend_on_wine(self):
+        for pkgbuild in self.pkgbuilds:
+            with self.subTest(pkgbuild=pkgbuild):
+                contents = pkgbuild.read_text(encoding="utf-8")
+                dependencySection = contents.split("source=(", 1)[0]
+                dependencyLines = {
+                    line.strip().strip("'")
+                    for line in dependencySection.splitlines()
+                    if line.strip() and not line.lstrip().startswith("#")
+                }
+                self.assertNotIn("wine", dependencyLines)
+
+    def test_optional_helper_packages_own_the_wine_dependency(self):
+        for pkgbuild in self.helperPkgbuilds:
+            with self.subTest(pkgbuild=pkgbuild):
+                contents = pkgbuild.read_text(encoding="utf-8")
+                self.assertIn("-Dwine-access=enabled", contents)
+                self.assertRegex(contents, r"(?m)^  wine$")
+
+
+if __name__ == "__main__":
+    unittest.main()

tests/test_wine_access_manager.py

@@ -5,6 +5,18 @@ from cthulhu.wine_access_manager import PrefixProcess, WineAccessManager
 
 
 class WineAccessManagerTest(unittest.TestCase):
+    @mock.patch.object(WineAccessManager, "_find_helper", return_value=None)
+    @mock.patch.object(WineAccessManager, "discover_prefixes")
+    def test_poll_without_installed_helper_is_a_no_op(
+        self, discover_prefixes, _find_helper
+    ):
+        manager = WineAccessManager(helperPath=None)
+
+        self.assertIsNone(manager.helperPath)
+        self.assertTrue(manager.poll())
+        discover_prefixes.assert_not_called()
+        self.assertEqual(manager.prefixes, {})
+
     def test_prefix_prefers_explicit_wineprefix(self):
         environment = {
             "WINEPREFIX": "/tmp/custom-prefix",