LaTeX formula does not appear in menu (without explanation)

Same issue as bug #642522? (Needs a better summary than “EPS import doesn't work on Windows without GS”)?

> list any and all packages required by the LaTeX Formula
> function as dependencies of the Inkscape package

Inkscape needs a cross-platform solution - AFAIU a solution as you propose would be handled by the down-stream packager for each linux distribution.

Well, another solution, which I saw mentioned by Alexandre Prokoudine in the linked bug report, could be

"what Rosegarden, a free MIDI sequencer, does: on startup it checks for missing components and lists what features will be absent in human readable form."

I have also seen K3B, the disc burning application, do a similar thing.

Basically, there needs to be some sort of system that informs the user of any missing functionality and what additional packages are needed to enable it--instead of just silently disabling missing functionality so that the user isn't even aware that Inkscape has or could have that functionality.

The file '~/.config/inkscape/extension-error.log' contains all information about extensions that failed to load, and the reasons why. AFAIK there used to be a notification about the extensions log when launching Inkscape - however, it was later disabled because it caused to much confusion (bug #166288 and several duplicates, bug #170609).

One problem is that this information can change any time between two inkscape sessions, yet visually notifying users each time Inkscape launches (e.g. every time the user double-clicks a file in the file-manager and thus launches a new Inkscape process) is hardly user-friendly and likely to interrupt many workflows.

The information from the extensions error log should be parsed and e.g. listed in a separate pane of the preferences dialog, or the 'About Inkscape' dialog:
Bug #170622 in Inkscape: “About|Extensions Dialog”

In the meantime - maybe someone contributes an extension which parses the log file and reports this information on demand as feedback from the extension script?

Here's an unobtrusive and informative way to inform user about extension error. Don't hide the problematic extension from the menu. Leave its menu item as is. When the user click on it, shows a dialog box that inform the user of the missing external resources.

Feature request: "there needs to be some sort of system that informs the user of any missing functionality and what additional packages are needed to enable it."