From owner-freebsd-questions@FreeBSD.ORG Sat Oct 18 10:35:31 2003 Return-Path: Delivered-To: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org Received: from mx1.FreeBSD.org (mx1.freebsd.org [216.136.204.125]) by hub.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id E60FE16A4BF for ; Sat, 18 Oct 2003 10:35:31 -0700 (PDT) Received: from be-well.ilk.org (lowellg.ne.client2.attbi.com [66.30.200.37]) by mx1.FreeBSD.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id 3D6AD43FCB for ; Sat, 18 Oct 2003 10:35:31 -0700 (PDT) (envelope-from freebsd-questions-local@be-well.ilk.org) Received: by be-well.ilk.org (Postfix, from userid 1147) id B65283B06; Sat, 18 Oct 2003 13:35:30 -0400 (EDT) Sender: lowell@be-well.ilk.org To: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org References: <20031017183307.401450af.adam.mclaurin@gmx.net> From: Lowell Gilbert Date: 18 Oct 2003 13:35:30 -0400 In-Reply-To: <20031017183307.401450af.adam.mclaurin@gmx.net> Message-ID: <44smlqqwil.fsf@be-well.ilk.org> Lines: 32 User-Agent: Gnus/5.09 (Gnus v5.9.0) Emacs/21.3 MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Subject: Re: Why build INDEX ? X-BeenThere: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org X-Mailman-Version: 2.1.1 Precedence: list List-Id: User questions List-Unsubscribe: , List-Archive: List-Post: List-Help: List-Subscribe: , X-List-Received-Date: Sat, 18 Oct 2003 17:35:32 -0000 Adam McLaurin writes: > Kris, maybe you can answer this definitively, once and for all. What are the > precise reasons why INDEX is needed? Also, what is the practical difference > between using 'make index' and 'portsdb -uU'? 'make index' and 'portsdb -U' update INDEX. 'portsdb -u' updates INDEX.db. INDEX is used by the base system ports utilities to handle searches, some pkg_info options, and so on. > I've been told by a few people that INDEX is unnecessary unless you're building > a package, which most end users will never do. However, I am suspicious that > there are other reasons for INDEX, but I've never heard definitively what they > are. 'pkg_version -v' and 'make search' are very useful, and depend on an up-to-date INDEX file. > I do know that building INDEX after cvsup allows using portversion instead of > pkg_version, for a bit of a performance improvement. However, pkg_version isn't > THAT slow, so I certainly don't think building INDEX (~30-40 minutes on my box) > is worth it just for that. This is completely incorrect. Building INDEX.db is for portversion. INDEX has to be updated for pkg_version to see the updated versions of the ports skeletons (in other words, if you don't rebuild it, 'pkg_version -v won't know that your ports have been updated). > Kris, want to clear my conscience here? Is it REALLY needed for the typical end > user? It's not essential, but some utilities will work with outdated information.