Date: Mon, 12 Apr 1999 19:49:48 +0100 From: Nik Clayton <nik@nothing-going-on.demon.co.uk> To: Brandon Fosdick <bfoz@glue.umd.edu> Cc: Sue Blake <sue@welearn.com.au>, meshko@cs.brandeis.edu, freebsd-doc@FreeBSD.ORG Subject: Re: ports/11093: remind user that he needs to be root to install port Message-ID: <19990412194948.A9344@catkin.nothing-going-on.org> In-Reply-To: <371183A6.A7EB2B52@glue.umd.edu>; from Brandon Fosdick on Mon, Apr 12, 1999 at 01:24:54AM -0400 References: <19990412032503.1B6DC153BE@hub.freebsd.org> <19990412133835.55410@welearn.com.au> <371183A6.A7EB2B52@glue.umd.edu>
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On Mon, Apr 12, 1999 at 01:24:54AM -0400, Brandon Fosdick wrote:
> > I can identify with your problem, but I think this is a documentation
> > problem not a ports problem.
> >
> > What documentation did you read to learn how to install a port?
> > Maybe we can fix it so that it's clearer in future.
>
> I do this all the time too. The documentation needs a little help in this area
> since it's not explicitly stated that you need to be root. (BTW, I like the
> handbook's new look)
This is going to be sort of fixed. There'll be more front matter about
conventions adopted in the Handbook (what filenames look like, what commands
look like, that sort of thing). One of them will say "If an example has a
'#' it means do it as root, if it has a '%' or a '$' then do it as a normal
user.
I'm not averse to changing '#' to 'root#' to make it even more explicit.
Better still (fanfare) since the DocBook conversion, making that change is,
quite literally, a one liner!
> But I also think that a simple check very early on in the
> make process would help things immensely. At the very least it would help us
> forgetful types. Just make sure that the error message is very clear,
> something like, "You forgot to su dummy!". :)
Not quite that simple, since you can do the ports/pkg_add thing without
being root (if you wanted to install them in to your home directory, for
example).
Perhaps something that checked the permissions of where you were trying to
install them to would be a better idea?
N
--
Bagel: The carbohydrate with the hole
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