How do do I inspect compile-time dependencies for packages?
You want a "visual" output of the dependency tree for a particular package?
bitbake --dry-run --verbose $packagename | grep "current path" | less
should give you that information. Another way is the more recent
bitbake -g $packagename && less *.dot
If you have graphviz installed, you can convert the .dot file to PostScript (.ps).
dot -Tps task-depends.dot -o task-depends.ps
And then we can open the .ps file with gimp or evince, send it to the printer or whatever you usually do with these files.
Be careful that a complex package such as mplayer gives .dot and .ps files that will require too much RAM, so they can't actually be opened