but lukas this is not because systemSetting:
    does not refer to setting classes that there is no dependency.     newSetting  and all the rest will introduce a dependency.
Sure, that's a dependency too, but not one that prevents clean loading. Hard dependencies in Smalltalk that prevent from loading are missing super classes, missing classes that are extended, missing traits imports, and missing class references. Pharo can somehow handle the last dependency gracefully, but it shows up as an error in the transcript and causes an undeclared variable to be defined in the system. Other Smalltalk don't allow to load such code (VAST). Personally I don't consider sending a non-existing message in a method that is never called that much of a problem. Lukas -- Lukas Renggli http://www.lukas-renggli.ch