Date: Sat, 02 Aug 1997 20:03:07 +0100 From: Ade Lovett <ade@demon.net> To: Poul-Henning Kamp <phk@dk.tfs.com> Cc: ports@freebsd.org, current@freebsd.org, stable@freebsd.org Subject: Re: ports-current/packages-current discontinued Message-ID: <E0wujSG-00005W-00@genghis.eng.demon.net> In-Reply-To: Your message of "Sat, 02 Aug 1997 20:05:18 %2B0200." <1773.870545118@critter.dk.tfs.com>
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Poul-Henning Kamp writes: > >Because -current is "not yet release code" and tcl8.0b2 is "almost but >not quite release code". > >That's why. > >It sounds to me like a lot of people should seriously reconsider if >they ought to run -current :-( This seems to be something of an oversimplification. Whilst there are undoubtedly people who are much more likely to be better off running release (or perhaps -stable) code, there are quite a number of people who need features (SMP, for example) that are only present in -current. The problems come about when the base operating system contains components that really shouldn't be there at all. TCL, Perl certainly fall into this category, and there's probably quite a bit else which would be better off in either ports, or an 'additions' package. A cursory glance through my /usr/src shows ncftp, opie, amd, cdplayers, x-ten, xntpd, amongst others, all of which don't necessarily belong in a base FreeBSD syste. By including such non-essential components (in the sense that they are not needed to run a stripped-down FreeBSD box) in the whole base release, it seems that problems such as the one currently under discussion are simply going to become more and more regular, which is likely to cause much needless aggravation and raised blood-pressures. It seems to me that an urgent study is required, to identify those parts of the current /usr/src tree that don't really belong in the core system, migrating them out either into the ports collection, or setting up an additions structure -- we could then move to a state where: FreeBSD-core + FreeBSD-additions = FreeBSD-package (existing /usr/src) with FreeBSD-ports continuing along its current excellent path. Those that then wish to stay current with the core operating system, who are not worried (for whatever reason) about the additions, such as tcl and perl, can do so, without worrying that whenever they cvsup an entire core source tree and do a make world, they're not exposing themselves to installing other -current software other than that part that they're particularly interested in. -aDe -- Ade Lovett, Demon Internet Ltd.
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