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To: Chuck Robey <chuckr@glue.umd.edu>
cc: Satoshi Asami <asami@FreeBSD.ORG>, FreeBSD-Ports@FreeBSD.ORG
Subject: Re: blt2.1 
In-reply-to: Your message of "Sun, 10 Nov 1996 15:47:53 EST."
             <Pine.OSF.3.95.961110153202.8891B-100000@packet.eng.umd.edu> 
Date: Sun, 10 Nov 1996 16:41:57 -0800
Message-ID: <29164.847672917@time.cdrom.com>
From: "Jordan K. Hubbard" <jkh@time.cdrom.com>
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> Well, that is what I was slowly getting at.  The process of making a
> particular flavor really has to start just after the extract, so that it
> gets patched and configured correctly.  You'll agree that this isn't just

Actually, the actual file names are *permuted* by the flavor via a
hashing method, so when you extract all files of a certain flavor
you're really getting hits on generic or flavor-specific versions
of whichever target you're looking for.

> 1) New target "optionlist" that lists build options for a port, with short
>    descriptions of what they mean.
> 2) New variable OPTIONS that can be set to any value specified when you
>    run optionlist, to force the port to build that way.

I'm not exactly sure I understand what problem this is designed to solve.

> 3) name of workdir changed, so that it reflects the option list that was
>    active (or maybe a new cookie deposited to tell that).

See above. :-)

> 4) Packages that are built for a particular option list cookie, so that
>    a ports designer could lay out obvious options (like GUI and non-GUI
>    packages for emacs).
> 5) PLISTs for each option.  Extend PLIST name to PLIST.option_name.

I'd have to have more details before I'd really understand what it is
you're getting at, but all I can really say is that if you're thinking
of permuting the current package tools into this, you should probably
save your hair and forget it. ;-)

I think that the ports collection will eventually have pkg/
directories with significantly different contents than they do now,
some perl hack doing a midnight conversion job on the current stuff at
some point in the future, once the new format is well known and
tested.

						Jordan