From owner-freebsd-ports@FreeBSD.ORG Thu Dec 13 19:56:57 2007 Return-Path: Delivered-To: freebsd-ports@freebsd.org Received: from mx1.freebsd.org (mx1.freebsd.org [IPv6:2001:4f8:fff6::34]) by hub.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id 4340116A417; Thu, 13 Dec 2007 19:56:57 +0000 (UTC) (envelope-from youshi10@u.washington.edu) Received: from mxout7.cac.washington.edu (mxout7.cac.washington.edu [140.142.32.178]) by mx1.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id 0B9D713C458; Thu, 13 Dec 2007 19:56:57 +0000 (UTC) (envelope-from youshi10@u.washington.edu) Received: from smtp.washington.edu (smtp.washington.edu [140.142.32.141] (may be forged)) by mxout7.cac.washington.edu (8.13.7+UW06.06/8.13.7+UW07.09) with ESMTP id lBDJuuJ1000615 (version=TLSv1/SSLv3 cipher=DHE-RSA-AES256-SHA bits=256 verify=OK); Thu, 13 Dec 2007 11:56:56 -0800 X-Auth-Received: from [192.168.1.113] (c-76-22-52-184.hsd1.wa.comcast.net [76.22.52.184]) (authenticated authid=youshi10) by smtp.washington.edu (8.13.7+UW06.06/8.13.7+UW07.09) with ESMTP id lBDJurAd030455 (version=TLSv1/SSLv3 cipher=AES128-SHA bits=128 verify=NOT); Thu, 13 Dec 2007 11:56:54 -0800 In-Reply-To: <20071213111050.O6078@wonkity.com> References: <475F7390.9090509@gmail.com> <1022BEDA-8641-4686-AB1A-3FE2D688F47F@FreeBSD.org> <475FAC1F.1010401@gmail.com> <19341C6C-BF3A-4DFD-B8DF-87F4E92B0335@FreeBSD.org> <0F330142-A3CA-4E6E-84BD-FDE55A8E3AEE@yahoo.com> <20071213111050.O6078@wonkity.com> Mime-Version: 1.0 (Apple Message framework v752.2) X-Gpgmail-State: !signed Content-Type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII; delsp=yes; format=flowed Message-Id: <291C2604-2EDD-412E-9108-2ADD7D4D9F68@u.washington.edu> Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit From: Garrett Cooper Date: Thu, 13 Dec 2007 11:56:52 -0800 To: Warren Block X-Mailer: Apple Mail (2.752.2) X-PMX-Version: 5.3.3.310218, Antispam-Engine: 2.5.2.313940, Antispam-Data: 2007.12.13.113833 X-Uwash-Spam: Gauge=IIIIIII, Probability=7%, Report='__CT 0, __CTE 0, __CT_TEXT_PLAIN 0, __HAS_MSGID 0, __HAS_X_MAILER 0, __MIME_TEXT_ONLY 0, __MIME_VERSION 0, __SANE_MSGID 0' Cc: Ade Lovett , Steven Kreuzer , freebsd-ports@freebsd.org Subject: Re: Limitations of Ports System X-BeenThere: freebsd-ports@freebsd.org X-Mailman-Version: 2.1.5 Precedence: list List-Id: Porting software to FreeBSD List-Unsubscribe: , List-Archive: List-Post: List-Help: List-Subscribe: , X-List-Received-Date: Thu, 13 Dec 2007 19:56:57 -0000 On Dec 13, 2007, at 10:17 AM, Warren Block wrote: > On Thu, 13 Dec 2007, Steven Kreuzer wrote: > >> This thread was called "results of ports re-engineering survey" >> but I figured I would start a new thread. > > Rightly so. > >> On Dec 12, 2007, at 6:45 AM, Ade Lovett wrote: >>> We *know* it can be done better. We *know* the scaling limits of >>> the current system, and most of us are completely amazed it even >>> still works. >>> If y'all want to make a difference, concepts and ideas we have >>> plenty of. Code talks. >> >> Out of curiosity, are any of these shortcomings documented >> anywhere? I have been using ports on my home machine for a long >> time and I've never >> had any problems with it. I assume the issues come into play when >> you work with multiple systems you are trying to keep in sync, etc. >> >> I would be interested in reading about some of the limitations >> people have run into when using ports. > > Notable with the new modular Xorg is the speed of changes (install/ > deinstall/clean) when there are a lot of ports installed. Before > modular xorg, 400 ports installed was a lot. 700 now is not > surprising. > > Some profiling looking for areas which could benefit from speed > optimization would be useful. That may have already been done but > not publicized. > > -Warren Block * Rapid City, South Dakota USA My hunch is that part of the problem lies in the fact (unfortunately) that everything's done via Makefiles and that there's a lot of redundancy to some extent with the operations performed by pkg_install and friends (at least from reading and writing the /var/ db/pkg* and /usr/ports/INDEX* files are concerned), in particular when dealing with non-slave / -master instances, and how make is invoking pkg_install(1). I don't have hard evidence to support that point though, and until that point is reached my comment is merely speculation. -Garrett