From owner-freebsd-questions@freebsd.org Tue May 10 20:56:29 2016 Return-Path: Delivered-To: freebsd-questions@mailman.ysv.freebsd.org Received: from mx1.freebsd.org (mx1.freebsd.org [IPv6:2001:1900:2254:206a::19:1]) by mailman.ysv.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id 56B45B36A0A for ; Tue, 10 May 2016 20:56:29 +0000 (UTC) (envelope-from brandon.wandersee@gmail.com) Received: from mail-ig0-f178.google.com (mail-ig0-f178.google.com [209.85.213.178]) (using TLSv1.2 with cipher ECDHE-RSA-AES128-GCM-SHA256 (128/128 bits)) (Client CN "smtp.gmail.com", Issuer "Google Internet Authority G2" (verified OK)) by mx1.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTPS id 3030D1321; Tue, 10 May 2016 20:56:28 +0000 (UTC) (envelope-from brandon.wandersee@gmail.com) Received: by mail-ig0-f178.google.com with SMTP id u5so20967667igk.1; Tue, 10 May 2016 13:56:28 -0700 (PDT) X-Google-DKIM-Signature: v=1; a=rsa-sha256; c=relaxed/relaxed; d=1e100.net; s=20130820; h=x-gm-message-state:references:user-agent:from:to:cc:subject :in-reply-to:date:message-id:mime-version; bh=O7aBF4niadcePfAfTHGEf6E6eBRYWJvm7GLEZDV4ZLM=; b=Ja6a0j9In05rwLXa9FWofszmzA6Mr21R4Xo5mRF5vkgwouWKaz7uMbcYU+DB4cZIWa QINvFR6TxUr8xRbazAJWomU1G0fDCoeRWpb6+Ntdtu6/5Yw1KJi9igDBdE9IlAyWGcTp SAO/lMx91JzGyyNoUO3CzbmA6xjYvdbi1Ryh4Kh268ZRVrXnreF/k/6v5WV2/whoo0yo H8o7NPLWff64zk8DN5WvtMOXJWqb+wRPYDeFOLOwFYaZfV52gSNy9NsFOPlL6IdutW9m gqEF/XrOpVZJ16zyhLfB/pBv3CETVksxjf3UY35VHBH+QWe6Lmw/7iAIZYwchu2lAprl Hk1g== X-Gm-Message-State: AOPr4FWrhdTgRt1l5j1b0+2j3gvW6/YWnGL+l7sxsFNkgjUyfs2tbqagPOgZLQOtI+BTEA== X-Received: by 10.50.96.132 with SMTP id ds4mr19725078igb.31.1462912031597; Tue, 10 May 2016 13:27:11 -0700 (PDT) Received: from WorkBox.Home.gmail.com (63-231-169-154.mpls.qwest.net. [63.231.169.154]) by smtp.gmail.com with ESMTPSA id y198sm1728692iof.10.2016.05.10.13.27.09 (version=TLS1_2 cipher=ECDHE-RSA-AES128-GCM-SHA256 bits=128/128); Tue, 10 May 2016 13:27:10 -0700 (PDT) References: User-agent: mu4e 0.9.16; emacs 24.5.1 From: Brandon J. Wandersee To: Matthew Seaman Cc: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org Subject: Re: pkg delete dilema In-reply-to: Date: Tue, 10 May 2016 15:27:11 -0500 Message-ID: <86inylhd5s.fsf@WorkBox.Home> MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain X-BeenThere: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org X-Mailman-Version: 2.1.22 Precedence: list List-Id: User questions List-Unsubscribe: , List-Archive: List-Post: List-Help: List-Subscribe: , X-List-Received-Date: Tue, 10 May 2016 20:56:29 -0000 Matthew Seaman writes: > On 10/05/2016 18:44, Mario Lobo wrote: >> So, is there a way to tell pkg just to delete the package WITHOUT deleting >> the dependent ports? If not, is there a way for me to remove just the >> cups-client port? Or just force cups to get installed (make >> FORCE_PKG_REGISTER=yes install issues the same problem as plain make above)? > > pkg delete -f cups-client > > Cheers, > > Matthew >From the pkg-delete(8) man page: | -f, --force | Forces packages to be removed despite leaving unresolved | dependencies. In combination with the -a or --all flag, | causes pkg(8) to be removed as well as all other packages. Correct me if I'm wrong, but that bit about "despite leaving unresolved dependencies" is not inconsequential. Yes, it will allow Mario to upgrade one port, but will also essentially leave all those ports with recorded dependencies on outdated cups-* packages unresolvable, won't it? That is, when it comes time to upgrade other ports pkg(8) will then complain that dependencies of those ports can't be resolved, won't it? If not, then what of all the ports that depended on the previous version of cups *and* the manner in which it and its components were previously packaged? Isn't it best to state that rebuilding the whole "package chain" will ensure it's intact, while forcibly removing one link in that chain will possibly break the whole thing? I could be wrong. I have to admit that I don't know all the ins-and-outs of pkg(8), but (if I may be blunt) the conventional wisdom I learned from my Arch Linux days was "Don't ever use 'pacman --force' unless you know what you're doing---and if you think using 'pacman --force' is a good idea, you don't know what you're doing." -- :: Brandon J. Wandersee :: brandon.wandersee@gmail.com :: -------------------------------------------------- :: 'The best design is as little design as possible.' :: --- Dieter Rams ----------------------------------