From owner-freebsd-stable@FreeBSD.ORG Sun Mar 23 00:29:53 2008 Return-Path: Delivered-To: freebsd-stable@FreeBSD.ORG Received: from mx1.freebsd.org (mx1.freebsd.org [IPv6:2001:4f8:fff6::34]) by hub.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id 228DD106564A for ; Sun, 23 Mar 2008 00:29:53 +0000 (UTC) (envelope-from anders@FreeBSD.org) Received: from fupp.net (totem.fix.no [80.91.36.20]) by mx1.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id D9FAB8FC18 for ; Sun, 23 Mar 2008 00:29:52 +0000 (UTC) (envelope-from anders@FreeBSD.org) Received: from localhost (totem.fix.no [80.91.36.20]) by fupp.net (Postfix) with ESMTP id 8290B8DAA30; Sun, 23 Mar 2008 01:07:08 +0100 (CET) Received: from fupp.net ([80.91.36.20]) by localhost (totem.fix.no [80.91.36.20]) (amavisd-new, port 10024) with LMTP id sKuX3wv0Ddw3; Sun, 23 Mar 2008 01:07:08 +0100 (CET) Received: by fupp.net (Postfix, from userid 1000) id 177AC8DAA2F; Sun, 23 Mar 2008 01:07:08 +0100 (CET) Date: Sun, 23 Mar 2008 01:07:08 +0100 From: Anders Nordby To: freebsd-stable@FreeBSD.ORG, mlerota@iskon.hr Message-ID: <20080323000707.GA33311@fupp.net> References: <868x0ezh9u.fsf@zid.claresco.hr> <200803192028.m2JKSZen098816@lurza.secnetix.de> Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Content-Disposition: inline In-Reply-To: <200803192028.m2JKSZen098816@lurza.secnetix.de> X-PGP-Key: http://anders.fix.no/pgp/ X-PGP-Key-FingerPrint: 1E0F C53C D8DF 6A8F EAAD 19C5 D12A BC9F 0083 5956 User-Agent: Mutt/1.5.11 Cc: Subject: Re: Upgrading to 7.0 - stupid requirements X-BeenThere: freebsd-stable@freebsd.org X-Mailman-Version: 2.1.5 Precedence: list List-Id: Production branch of FreeBSD source code List-Unsubscribe: , List-Archive: List-Post: List-Help: List-Subscribe: , X-List-Received-Date: Sun, 23 Mar 2008 00:29:53 -0000 Hi, On Wed, Mar 19, 2008 at 09:28:35PM +0100, Oliver Fromme wrote: >> If this thing can be solved (I'm not programmer so I don't know) I can >> donate some amount of $ for development. I think that this would make >> lots of people happy. > I have to admit I see no way how the problem could > be solved in a different way, I'm afraid. By FreeBSD adpoting some variant of apt-get for ports maybe? And by making the ports install configuration files in such a way that upgrading is more easy?gThe way it is now, you typically have to move away old config files during/before an upgrade, and manually merge with the new default of whichever program you are upgrading so that you get new defaults. A good example is the way Debian installs Apache I guess, with a directory structure like this under /etc/apache2: conf.d (custom configuration) sites-available (virtualhost configuration) sites-enabled (symlinks for enabled virtualhosts) mods-available (available Apache modles) mods-enabled (symlinks for enabled Apache modules) Of course, this would be a huge task to undertake. But why aren't we doing it already? IMO the biggest problems with ports today is the lack of an easy to use, powerful binary (!) upgrade system which can do upgrades more efficiently for most uses/users. PS: Your description of how to upgrade your ports matches with what I do after a major OS upgrade (delete all, then reinstall). For sure it works. But it isn't really efficient. Don't you agree? By not having an efficient upgrade prodcedure, you typically end up not getting software updates done as often as you might like. At least that is how it is for me. Cheers, -- Anders.