David Silber: Perhaps we need to somehow start listing dependancies for compiling from the source package. Perhaps a file named debian.compile could contain a list of packages (optionally with minimal version numbers)?
It's probably worth noting that a variety of other distribution systems already have mechanisms for solving this problem (as well as the problem of building a complete system using a single command). I think Bogus, Red Hat and FreeBSD+NetBSD all have solved this (yes, I know BSD uses a different kernel). It might be worth taking a look at what others have done before reinventing the wheel... -- Raul
