On Wed, 1 Aug 2012 22:25:24 -0400, david coder wrote: > one thing i don't understand about what otherwise seemed to me the best > suggestion for dealing with this issue: assuming that "the system png" > refers to the png that comes w/ the freebsd distributions, how would > upgrading the png port help?
The operating system FreeBSD (i. e. the base system) does _not_ come with a PNG library. You won't find it if you search through the /usr/src tree (which contains the sources for all the stuff in the base system). The libpng is a 3rd party addition - a port (or a package) which other software depends on. So if you need to update it, you need to deal with the ports, not with the base system. Unlike Linux, FreeBSD doesn't come in distributions. There is _one_ base system. _THE_ operating system FreeBSD. It contains of a defined set of components maintained by the FreeBSD team. > wouldn't the other ports continue to use the > system png? there was, i know, a hint or two that upgrading old systems was > a necessary part of the fix, but then why would the port matter @ all then, > ie, why wouldn't updating the system be sufficient? Such a procedure (i. e. updating the OS) _might_ be required to get certain ports running. I'm not sure this is related to the libpng issue, but basically it's _possible_ that such steps may be needed for some software (which for example only runs on the 8- and 9- branch of the OS, but not on 7- anymore). You need to understand that FreeBSD (the OS) is not arbitrarily composed from packages like Linux distributions. In their context, that what forms their base system (different among the distros!) is created by selecting packages, and even the kernel can be seen as a package. Many (most?) distros also include X and various software, so they chose the PNG library to be part of that basic distribution content. > obviously, i'm confused. will some patient person please explain where i'm > going wrong? I think it has been done hereby. :-) -- Polytropon Magdeburg, Germany Happy FreeBSD user since 4.0 Andra moi ennepe, Mousa, ... _______________________________________________ freebsd-questions@freebsd.org mailing list http://lists.freebsd.org/mailman/listinfo/freebsd-questions To unsubscribe, send any mail to "freebsd-questions-unsubscr...@freebsd.org"
