On 6/3/12, Erich <erichfreebsdl...@ovitrap.com> wrote: ...
> On 03 June 2012 PM 1:12:38 b. f. wrote: >> > On 03 June 2012 PM 5:42:55 Adam Strohl wrote: >> > > On 6/3/2012 17:24, Etienne Robillard wrote: ... >> With regard to your request for a versioned Ports trees -- well, we >> have had that for about 18 years, since the Ports tree is kept under >> version control in CVS, and you are free to check out snapshots using >> anonymous CVS or CVSup -- all you have to do is specify a tag or date > > I would not know for what tag I would have to go to solve a specific > Problem. Here we encounter a problem with your argument: it is unlikely that your hypothetical helpless beginner would know what to do with a versioned ports tree, even if he or she knew that it does in fact exist. Any such person who requires reliability should really be using binary packages and binary base-system updates prepared by someone else, and not compiling from source. There have been considerable improvements on this front, with freebsd-update and pkgng ( http://wiki.freebsd.org/pkgng ). If you want to help, you should become familiar with these, and suggest concrete changes that you think would assist your beginner. Returning to your question: a common-sense answer would be to fall back to the last-known suitable Ports tree snapshot -- or to the snapshot distributed with the last release, or the release that you are using. To use the ports tree snapshot distributed with a particular release, use the ports (not the src!) release tags as described in: http://www.freebsd.org/doc/en_US.ISO8859-1/books/handbook/cvs-tags.html (Here the description could be changed to avoid confusion -- the list of specific release tags could be changed to indicate that they are src release tags only, as briefly described in the first paragraph of A.7.2, and the corresponding ports release tags could be added.) For example, in order to obtain the ports tree corresponding to the 8.3 release, use: tag=RELEASE_8_3_0 instead of the usual tag=. in a ports sup file (a comment to that effect could be added to src/share/examples/cvsup/ports-supfile) -- or use the corresponding "-r" option with cvs(1). The available tags are also visible through the pull-down "Show only files with tag" menu at the web interface: http://www.freebsd.org/cgi/cvsweb.cgi/ports/ and of course someone who is familiar with CVS could find them. The tag is one kind of "version number". The other kind of "version number" that is available is a date spec -- for csup(1) this takes the form: [cc]yy.mm.dd.hh.mm.ss where the abbreviations represent the usual century. year, month, day, hour, minute, and second. To use this, just add a date=... line in your sup file, to replace or supersede any tag=... line. So, for example, to fetch the ports tree as it was immediately before the png update, determine the time of the png update (for example, via the cvsweb interface above, or freshports [ http://www.freshports.org ] or freshbsd [ http://www.freshbsd.org ] or the cvs-ports mailing list [ http://lists.freebsd.org/pipermail/cvs-ports/ ], or by looking at the revision time-stamp in ports/graphics/png/Makefile), and then substitute: date=2012.06.01.05.10.00 (that is, a few minutes before the png update) for the usual tag=. in a ports sup file -- or use the corresponding -D option with cvs(1). If these procedures aren't explained in great detail in the handbook or manpages, even though the tags and date specs are defined, it is probably because we assume that people who want to build specific revisions of ports from source, and who are able to do so, already have some familiarity with VCS. ... >> And you are, of course, free to use FreeBSD with other packaging > > They will feel to be free to use Windows. They can feel free to use whatever they please: I was only pointing out that using FreeBSD does not require the use of FreeBSD Ports. ... >> As far as your example from your other message about having to combine >> a png update with work over the course of a weekend -- I don't know >> why you would be fooling around with an update of your Ports tree or >> your installed ports while working under a tight deadline, but if you >> have backups, you should be able to recover from most problems fairly >> quickly. > > Because it is written in the handbook? Because it is common-sense to have back-ups if you require reliability. But if you feel that this should be explicitly mentioned in the handbook, submit some suggestions for changes or additions to the document committers. > At least some time ago the handbook stated to update the ports tree before > installing new ports. > > The new comer will do this and then get stuck. > > Do not forget that I am not talking here for people who know what they are > doing, I am talking about a hurdle newcomers are facing or people who just > want to use a computer as a tool. Again, a true novice who requires reliability ought to be using packages, and or get someone else to manage his software. The short sections in the handbook for dealing with package updates and broken ports could be clarified and expanded -- I will think about suggesting some specific changes. There are going to be changes anyway, after pkgng is introduced. b. _______________________________________________ freebsd-ports@freebsd.org mailing list http://lists.freebsd.org/mailman/listinfo/freebsd-ports To unsubscribe, send any mail to "freebsd-ports-unsubscr...@freebsd.org"
