From owner-freebsd-ports@FreeBSD.ORG Tue Jun 12 15:26:36 2007 Return-Path: X-Original-To: ports@freebsd.org Delivered-To: freebsd-ports@FreeBSD.ORG Received: from mx1.freebsd.org (mx1.freebsd.org [69.147.83.52]) by hub.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id E0D1B16A468 for ; Tue, 12 Jun 2007 15:26:36 +0000 (UTC) (envelope-from g.v.tjongahung@gmail.com) Received: from an-out-0708.google.com (an-out-0708.google.com [209.85.132.244]) by mx1.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id 9AF6313C46A for ; Tue, 12 Jun 2007 15:26:36 +0000 (UTC) (envelope-from g.v.tjongahung@gmail.com) Received: by an-out-0708.google.com with SMTP id c14so514884anc for ; Tue, 12 Jun 2007 08:26:36 -0700 (PDT) DKIM-Signature: a=rsa-sha1; c=relaxed/relaxed; d=gmail.com; s=beta; h=domainkey-signature:received:received:message-id:date:from:to:subject:cc:in-reply-to:mime-version:content-type:references; b=R+Pzzb1q5uL/PAJNRvGWH15NqH3+e/VPqWjFX8HVuiIl2sxWldTjKxeK7vilLaNMOE+E+PIzKyMT+3RvgiCNzRTgj9Fk0SjIuGnxQEn3LpfG3q5MMR9WpJAeS8XLcKxnQ/PnmZv7MjWA2bDWkHSont6c7GjkDebbGIks4ymUWz0= DomainKey-Signature: a=rsa-sha1; c=nofws; d=gmail.com; s=beta; h=received:message-id:date:from:to:subject:cc:in-reply-to:mime-version:content-type:references; b=ZIDFo4+54oCXeo5PIYhjR9/YNRpeyjyZTnzl/4Ifk9AKfPWkqRevGKpABa1Z8mPCfplM3wA5rC6IV9MK+uzM8KQl0zPI7C/DdABPN4qxHmupVA4ZYM8gnxBufldW7BaIrhbee+SKbwwBkWY4+Ur++dp0PeWmY8iy6r2XF2J9EIg= Received: by 10.100.253.12 with SMTP id a12mr4102243ani.1181661995861; Tue, 12 Jun 2007 08:26:35 -0700 (PDT) Received: by 10.100.45.6 with HTTP; Tue, 12 Jun 2007 08:26:35 -0700 (PDT) Message-ID: <822946050706120826r75835defj2dbf76fc2ecfccb6@mail.gmail.com> Date: Tue, 12 Jun 2007 17:26:35 +0200 From: "Gabor Tjong A Hung" To: "Brooks Davis" In-Reply-To: <20070611151636.GA16517@lor.one-eyed-alien.net> MIME-Version: 1.0 References: <200706090936.51775.david@vizion2000.net> <20070609203316.GC71246@voodoo.bawue.com> <20070611151636.GA16517@lor.one-eyed-alien.net> Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1; format=flowed Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Content-Disposition: inline X-Content-Filtered-By: Mailman/MimeDel 2.1.5 Cc: ports@freebsd.org, Kirill Ponomarew , David Southwell Subject: Re: ./options-descr file suggestion for ports 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: Tue, 12 Jun 2007 15:26:37 -0000 As it is now some ports don't even have OPTIONS, and you need to define variables to "define" your options. I don't really understand why this is done this way, but this is equally annoying. On 6/11/07, Brooks Davis wrote: > > On Sat, Jun 09, 2007 at 10:33:17PM +0200, Kirill Ponomarew wrote: > > On Sat, Jun 09, 2007 at 09:36:51AM -0700, David Southwell wrote: > > > Hi > > > > > > Would it be possible , when a port has options, to ask porters if > they would > > > consider the merits/demerits of adding: > > > > > > 1. An ./options-descr file in the port directory that describes the > options, > > > their purpose and any notes about an option > > > > > > Reasons: > > > This would be extremely useful for anyone not familiar with the port > to help > > > in the task of choosing which options to install. > > > > > > I realise that this would depend upon whether maintainers are willing > to add > > > an additional task to the already heavy burden they undertake. > Maintainers > > > who are willing to consider this idea but are reluctant to prepare the > notes > > > themselves but do not have the time or are for any reason reluctant to > do so, > > > could invite users to submit notes for incorporating in > ./options-descr. > > > > > > By way of example I am just installing www/ruby-gem-rails and had no > immediate > > > idea whether or not to add fastcgi support without trying to find out > whether > > > it is or is not needed when one has mod_ruby installed and > > > LoadModule ruby_module libexec/apache/mod_ruby.so > > > in httpd.conf. A brief note in a ./options-descr could be very > helpful, > > > especially for some ports where the options are sometimes numerous and > not > > > always completely documented. > > > > > > A little bit of intial guidance about options would be most helpful to > a > > > system administrator who is not necessarily familiar with the a > specific > > > port. > > > > That's what ports/KNOBS supposed to be, see rev. 1.1 by ahze: > > > > Limitations to KNOBS: In the future we plan to add support for > > OPTIONS to support the KNOBS file, and so dialog(1) will be able to > > handle the size of each knob knob-name's are limited to 12 > > characters and knob-descriptions are limited to 45 characters, not > > including the white space between the knob-name and > > knob-description. > > > > Though, I don't know when OPTIONS support to KNOBS will be added. > > While I think KNOBS has merit, I don't think it addresses per-port > issues such as documenting dependencies between various OPTIONS or > documenting that a particular option has a large or small impact on > dependencies. > > -- Brooks > >