From owner-freebsd-current Sat Aug 2 15:55:03 1997 Return-Path: Received: (from root@localhost) by hub.freebsd.org (8.8.5/8.8.5) id PAA19836 for current-outgoing; Sat, 2 Aug 1997 15:55:03 -0700 (PDT) Received: from hwcn.org (main.hwcn.org [199.212.94.65]) by hub.freebsd.org (8.8.5/8.8.5) with ESMTP id PAA19810; Sat, 2 Aug 1997 15:54:53 -0700 (PDT) Received: from james.freenet.hamilton.on.ca (ac199@james.hwcn.org [199.212.94.66]) by hwcn.org (8.8.6/8.8.6) with ESMTP id SAA22918; Sat, 2 Aug 1997 18:55:26 -0400 (EDT) Received: from localhost (ac199@localhost) by james.freenet.hamilton.on.ca (8.8.6/8.8.6) with SMTP id SAA03479; Sat, 2 Aug 1997 18:55:41 -0400 (EDT) X-Authentication-Warning: james.freenet.hamilton.on.ca: ac199 owned process doing -bs Date: Sat, 2 Aug 1997 18:55:41 -0400 (EDT) From: Tim Vanderhoek X-Sender: ac199@james.freenet.hamilton.on.ca Reply-To: hoek@hwcn.org To: David Nugent cc: hoek@hwcn.org, Michael Smith , Satoshi Asami , andreas@klemm.gtn.com, ports@FreeBSD.ORG, current@FreeBSD.ORG, stable@FreeBSD.ORG Subject: Re: ports-current/packages-current discontinued In-Reply-To: <199708022212.IAA15131@unique.usn.blaze.net.au> Message-ID: MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; charset=US-ASCII Sender: owner-freebsd-current@FreeBSD.ORG X-Loop: FreeBSD.org Precedence: bulk On Sun, 3 Aug 1997, David Nugent wrote: > >Meta-ports!! Their time has come! > >~ > >[meta-ports, for those who have forgotten, are just normal > >ports, but whose only purpose is to build other ports.] > > You lost me. :-) > > How is the structure any different from the current *_DEPENDS > system? A normal port, eg. xonix-1.4, or tvp-0.9.7, will depend on other pieces of the port, but those depends are merely a side-effect ie. they are needed to compile xonix or tvp. However, a meta-port would consist of little more than a list of dependancies. Its purpose would not be to install a single piece of software (eg. tvp or xonix), but to install a whole list of software. To better support such meta-packages, bsd.port.mk could be expanded a little. A variable such as META, when turned on, could merge all the PLISTS into one big one, and force ``make package'' to include all the dependancy's binaries in the package (not currently done). Sysinstall could give these meta ports a special place in its world, making it obvious that one is expected to install them to get a "complete" system. This would have the large advantage that users of older releases could update their system by installing a meta-package or two. If the idea proves succesful, it could be possible to upgrade a whole system and kernel just by typing "pkg_add". :) Of course, this puts a lot of power in Satoshi's hands, and I think that may scare a certain few people. ;) (Also, there is precedent for installing parts of the "base system" through a port/package. Consider XFree86). -- Outnumbered? Maybe. Outspoken? Never! tIM...HOEk