Date: Thu, 31 Aug 2000 11:00:37 +0200 From: Neil Blakey-Milner <nbm@mithrandr.moria.org> To: Nilmoni Deb <ndeb@ece.cmu.edu> Cc: Theo Bell <freebsd@cfdnet.me.tuns.ca>, freebsd-ports@FreeBSD.org Subject: Re: Ports Magick Unclear, Proposal to demystify (Was: Re: adding a port) Message-ID: <20000831110037.A2912@mithrandr.moria.org> In-Reply-To: <Pine.GSO.3.96L.1000830174117.408K-100000@alpha>; from ndeb@ece.cmu.edu on Wed, Aug 30, 2000 at 06:22:38PM -0400 References: <20000830215831.A96939@mithrandr.moria.org> <Pine.GSO.3.96L.1000830174117.408K-100000@alpha>
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On Wed 2000-08-30 (18:22), Nilmoni Deb wrote: > > "The files are placed in the location provided by the DISTDIR variable > > by the user, and defaults to /usr/ports/distfiles if not provided. If > > the DIST_SUBDIR variable is set by the port, it is placed in the > > subdirectory indicated by the variable." > > Thats a good idea. But as a novice user I am not sure where I > should set these variables. Is it in ~/.cshrc ? It's an environment variable, or a make variable. It is already explained later in the ports man page. Novice users can't expect every time an environment variable is discussed in a man page a long section on how to set them. It would better be covered briefly in the ports section of the handbook, not the man page. > Also how will the user know if the port has or hasnot set DIST_SUBDIR ? I explain that later. Also, my real intention is removing this talk of variables and implementing a 'wheredist' target that is much easier to understand. > 1. The section 4.2.1.2. says that one must use "make install" . But I used > "make install all" and it worked. So which one is it ? Or do both work? It says: "You can save time an extra step by just running 'make install' instead of 'make' and 'make install' as two separate steps." It would be silly to explain the entire make dependency tree that explains why 'make install' and 'make install all' and 'make install fetch build configure patch' are equivalent, and even do things in the same order. > 2. The GNU make gives syntax error at the statements like > > ".include <bsd.port.uk>" > > Since the user may not know that it is wiser to point that out as well. > After all the user's path may be using the GNU make rather than the > /usr/bin/make . GNU make is available in ports. It installs as 'gmake'. It deserves a mention in the troubleshooting section, not in every invocation of make. Basically, because of GNU make's blatant incompatibility with all other makes, it can't be used for any of our make systems. The unwritten rule is: "If you want GNU make, install the port/package, and invoke it as 'gmake'". Neil -- Neil Blakey-Milner Sunesi Clinical Systems nbm@mithrandr.moria.org To Unsubscribe: send mail to majordomo@FreeBSD.org with "unsubscribe freebsd-ports" in the body of the message
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