Date: Sat, 9 Jan 2016 20:24:14 +0000 (UTC) From: Benjamin Kaduk <bjk@FreeBSD.org> To: doc-committers@freebsd.org, svn-doc-all@freebsd.org, svn-doc-head@freebsd.org Subject: svn commit: r47981 - head/en_US.ISO8859-1/htdocs/news/status Message-ID: <201601092024.u09KOECr013945@repo.freebsd.org>
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Author: bjk Date: Sat Jan 9 20:24:13 2016 New Revision: 47981 URL: https://svnweb.freebsd.org/changeset/doc/47981 Log: Add entry on generating port variants from Brendan Molloy Modified: head/en_US.ISO8859-1/htdocs/news/status/report-2015-10-2015-12.xml Modified: head/en_US.ISO8859-1/htdocs/news/status/report-2015-10-2015-12.xml ============================================================================== --- head/en_US.ISO8859-1/htdocs/news/status/report-2015-10-2015-12.xml Sat Jan 9 20:00:45 2016 (r47980) +++ head/en_US.ISO8859-1/htdocs/news/status/report-2015-10-2015-12.xml Sat Jan 9 20:24:13 2016 (r47981) @@ -928,4 +928,99 @@ </task> </help> </project> + + <project cat='proj'> + <title>Supporting Variants in the Ports Framework</title> + + <contact> + <person> + <name> + <given>Brendan</given> + <common>Molloy</common> + </name> + <email>brendan+freebsd@bbqsrc.net</email> + </person> + </contact> + + <links> + <url href="https://github.com/bbqsrc/poudriere/compare/master...feature/variants">Poudriere PoC with Variants</url> + <url href="https://gist.github.com/bbqsrc/e7e3a54d84706485aa3a">Ports Makefile PoC with Examples</url> + </links> + + <body> + <p>I recently became involved with &os; (as in, the last 2-3 + weeks), and found myself quickly involved with Ports development. + What quickly struck me was the difficulty in providing a Python + package that was depended upon by multiple versions of Python. As + it turns out, poudriere can currently only generate one package + per port, meaning that a Python version-neutral (compatible with + 2.x and 3.x) port cannot simultaneously be packaged for each + variant at the same time.</p> + + <p>I discussed the issue with &a.koobs;, who suggested that I + look into implementing a "variants protocol" within the + Ports framework and the necessary changes to poudriere in order to + allow a port to generate more than one package.</p> + + <p>Support for variants is strongly needed in Ports and + provides significant benefits.</p> + + <ul> + <li>It would allow Python and other languages to provide + packages for dependencies for multiple language versions from the + same port.</li> + + <li>It alleviates the need for so-called "slave + ports", as a single port could now have multiple generated + packages from a single port.</li> + + <li>It would have a very small impact on the greater Ports + ecosystem: adding only two new variables, <tt>VARIANT</tt> and + <tt>VARIANTS</tt>.</li> + + <li>It would provide a more consistent approach between + different packaging teams for handling variations.</li> + </ul> + + <p>For a simple example, <tt>editors/vim-lite</tt> could + be folded into the <tt>editors/vim</tt> port, while still + generating a <tt>vim</tt> and <tt>vim-lite</tt> package. + For Python, <tt>VARIANTS</tt> can be derived from the already + used <tt>USES</tt> flags and generate compatible packages. + <tt>py27-foobar</tt> and <tt>py34-foobar</tt> could now be + consistently generated by poudriere without issue.</p> + + <p>Fortunately, this is not a wishful thinking piece. I dug + in my heels and have implemented a proof-of-concept implementation + of variants in the Ports framework, including the necessary + modifications to poudriere in order to support it. It was mildly + upsetting to find that poudriere is mostly written in Bourne shell + scripts, but press on I did nonetheless.</p> + + <p>I started with <a + href="https://github.com/bapt/ports-wip/compare/variants">the + prototype made by &a.bapt;</a> as a base, and built from there. + The poudriere PoC aims to limit changes as much as possible to + merely adding support for the new variants flags, while also at + the request of &a.koobs; making the logging output more + package-centric (as opposed to port-centric) as a result of these + changes.</p> + + <p>This is a <strong>work in progress</strong>, and I would + love to hear your feedback. I've enjoyed my first few weeks + working on &os;, and I hope to stay here for quite some time.</p> + </body> + + <help> + <task> + <p>Any constructive feedback on the implementation would be + very welcome!</p> + </task> + + <task> + <p>Hopefully the code will be of sufficient quality to be considered + for formal review in the coming months.</p> + </task> + </help> + </project> </report>
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