Re: GoBSD distribution

[John Duncan <agley@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

walt <wa1ter@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> writes:

> 
> I don't know what I was thinking when I said I'd never used pkgsrc -- it's
> the standard package system for NetBSD, and I use it frequently.  Since this
> is very much relevant to DragonFly I'll toss in my 2cents.
> 
> At present, pkgsrc lacks one critically important feature of FreeBSD's system:
> it cannot restore the old package if the new one fails to build (which is
> often!)
> 
> For example, every time one or two parts of a complicated desktop
> environment like kde or gnome get updated, pkgsrc first *deletes*
> every other package which depends on the new packages (usually most
> of them) before even attempting to build the new ones.
> 
> If even one small package fails to build properly you now have a useless
> pile of rubble where your wonderful computer stood just minutes ago ;o)
> IMHO this is simply unacceptable -- it has wasted many hours of my time
> on many occasions -- which is why I rarely update packages on my NetBSD
> box now.
> 
> Because pkgsrc is a work in progress (just like DragonFly) it will be
> improved in the future, I'm sure.  I can't be the only one who is
> annoyed by its shortcomings.  OTOH if you want to learn how to do
> things in unix, rebuilding your packages by hand is a great way to
> learn -- I've learned a lot because of pkgsrc ;o)

     Me three Walt,

                   Four times I have tried to build the latest Gnome on
          NetBSD and always some small file has been moved by the Gnome
          people and can't be found.

                   I also worry about the Linux apps in pkgsrc and the
          Elf Note business. I haven't had a lot of luck building Custom
          Linux apps on NetBSD.

                   I tend to stick with the quarterly snapshots of
          pkgsrc now.

                                       All the best,
                                           John Duncan