From owner-freebsd-doc Thu Apr 20 16:46: 8 2000 Delivered-To: freebsd-doc@freebsd.org Received: from aragorn.neomedia.it (aragorn.neomedia.it [195.103.207.6]) by hub.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id 1C51B37B514 for ; Thu, 20 Apr 2000 16:46:05 -0700 (PDT) (envelope-from bartequi@neomedia.it) Received: from bartequi.ottodomain.org (ppp1-pa5.neomedia.it [195.103.207.113]) by aragorn.neomedia.it (8.9.3/8.9.3) with SMTP id BAA01400 for ; Fri, 21 Apr 2000 01:46:01 +0200 (CEST) From: Salvo Bartolotta Date: Fri, 21 Apr 2000 00:48:41 GMT Message-ID: <20000421.484100@bartequi.ottodomain.org> Subject: some suggestions for the handbook To: freebsd-doc@FreeBSD.ORG X-Mailer: SuperCalifragilis X-Priority: 3 (Normal) MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1 Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable Sender: owner-freebsd-doc@FreeBSD.ORG Precedence: bulk X-Loop: FreeBSD.org Dear FreeBSDers, While I was reading the new 4.0 handbook and I came across a few=20 curious points.=20 Chapter 4.3 Troubleshooting Q: So why bother with ports then ? Why not add a new list item e.g. something like "The ports mechanism=20 makes every effort to customize a piece of ported software to the=20 specific hardare and software configuration of your system; as a=20 result, software installed via the ports mechanism may work better." Q: I did that, but when I tried to put it into /usr/ports/distfiles I=20 got some errors about not having permission. I seem to understand that this is no longer relevant, at least it=20 isn't on my 3.4-S and 4.0-S systems. In fact, I can write to=20 /usr/ports/distfiles (e.g. copying tarballs.) If this is the (general=20 ?) case, this question should be removed. Q: I have heard that some compiler options can cause bugs [omissis] Why not add something like "Specifying no option, ie issuing only=20 "make install", is NOT supposed to cause problems, anyway." This might make things clearer, especially for newbies. Q: I like having lots and lots of programs to play with [omissis] Why not add a warning such as: "WARNING: The Ports Collection consists of over 3,000 ports; software=20 conflicts do arise if you install ports thoughtlessly. In particular,=20 ports performing a similar function *might* overwrite one another's=20 files, inter alia. Albeit you can install a great many ports on your=20 system, and even a few ports having similar functions (ie in the same=20 category or subcategory), you should do that *cum* *grano* *salis*" I hope this will somehow help :-) Best regards, Salvo To Unsubscribe: send mail to majordomo@FreeBSD.org with "unsubscribe freebsd-doc" in the body of the message