From owner-freebsd-questions Sun Nov 29 21:44:41 1998 Return-Path: Received: (from majordom@localhost) by hub.freebsd.org (8.8.8/8.8.8) id VAA19659 for freebsd-questions-outgoing; Sun, 29 Nov 1998 21:44:41 -0800 (PST) (envelope-from owner-freebsd-questions@FreeBSD.ORG) Received: from cc942873-a.ewndsr1.nj.home.com (cc942873-a.ewndsr1.nj.home.com [24.2.89.207]) by hub.freebsd.org (8.8.8/8.8.8) with ESMTP id VAA19654 for ; Sun, 29 Nov 1998 21:44:38 -0800 (PST) (envelope-from cjc@cc942873-a.ewndsr1.nj.home.com) Received: (from cjc@localhost) by cc942873-a.ewndsr1.nj.home.com (8.8.8/8.8.8) id AAA01061 for freebsd-questions@FreeBSD.ORG; Mon, 30 Nov 1998 00:44:57 -0500 (EST) (envelope-from cjc) From: "Crist J. Clark" Message-Id: <199811300544.AAA01061@cc942873-a.ewndsr1.nj.home.com> Subject: Appropriate Forum for Bug/Upgrade To: freebsd-questions@FreeBSD.ORG (FreeBSD Questions) Date: Mon, 30 Nov 1998 00:44:56 -0500 (EST) Reply-To: cjclark@home.com X-Mailer: ELM [version 2.4ME+ PL40 (25)] MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Sender: owner-freebsd-questions@FreeBSD.ORG Precedence: bulk X-Loop: FreeBSD.ORG What would be the best place to point out a potential upgrade idea for the ports mechanism? The problem is a borderline between a bug and a absent feature. I think all I'm asking is for the re-wording of an error message. The "Problem:" I was just trying to download StarOffice to check it out when I got the following: % make >> StarOffice31-common.tar.gz doesn't seem to exist on this system. >> Attempting to fetch from ftp://ftp.gwdg.de/pub/linux/staroffice/. fetch: StarOffice31-common.tar.gz: Permission denied >> Attempting to fetch from ftp://ftp.freebsd.org/pub/FreeBSD/distfiles//. fetch: StarOffice31-common.tar.gz: Permission denied >> Couldn't fetch it - please try to retrieve this >> port manually into /usr/ports/distfiles/ and try again. *** Error code 1 Stop. *** Error code 1 Stop. *** Error code 1 Stop. Now, my first instinct was that the 'Permission denied' messages were coming from the ftp sites. However, after looking at the sites, I realized it wasn't the problem. When I did try to download them manually, I figured out the problem: I hadn't su'ed to root. (Doh!) I must admit that this was not the first time I made this mistake either. I think that problem could be more clearly indicated to the user. The 'Permission denied' could mention that the permission problem was writing on the /users/ machine, not the ftp site. Also, what's the point of trying to download it twice? If it didn't work the first time, it ain't gonna work the second. If anyone here has comments about this messaging issue please let me know. However, I am more interested in how to get this suggestion to the correct audience. Thanks. -- Crist J. Clark cjclark@home.com To Unsubscribe: send mail to majordomo@FreeBSD.org with "unsubscribe freebsd-questions" in the body of the message