From owner-freebsd-questions@FreeBSD.ORG Tue Feb 5 12:05:33 2008 Return-Path: Delivered-To: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org Received: from mx1.freebsd.org (mx1.freebsd.org [IPv6:2001:4f8:fff6::34]) by hub.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id 37D2E16A46B for ; Tue, 5 Feb 2008 12:05:33 +0000 (UTC) (envelope-from michael.grunewald@laposte.net) Received: from smtp5-g19.free.fr (smtp5-g19.free.fr [212.27.42.35]) by mx1.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id C276A13C45B for ; Tue, 5 Feb 2008 12:05:32 +0000 (UTC) (envelope-from michael.grunewald@laposte.net) Received: from smtp5-g19.free.fr (localhost.localdomain [127.0.0.1]) by smtp5-g19.free.fr (Postfix) with ESMTP id 893233F61B4 for ; Tue, 5 Feb 2008 13:05:30 +0100 (CET) Received: from Llea.celt.neu (ron34-3-82-236-236-194.fbx.proxad.net [82.236.236.194]) by smtp5-g19.free.fr (Postfix) with ESMTP id 6127D3F6167 for ; Tue, 5 Feb 2008 13:05:30 +0100 (CET) Received: from Llea.celt.neu (localhost [127.0.0.1]) by Llea.celt.neu (8.14.2/8.13.8) with ESMTP id m15C5DBX002885 for ; Tue, 5 Feb 2008 13:05:13 +0100 (CET) (envelope-from michael.grunewald@laposte.net) Received: (from michael@localhost) by Llea.celt.neu (8.14.2/8.13.8/Submit) id m15C5CQS002884; Tue, 5 Feb 2008 13:05:12 +0100 (CET) (envelope-from michael.grunewald@laposte.net) X-Authentication-Warning: Llea.celt.neu: michael set sender to michael.grunewald@laposte.net using -f To: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org From: michael.grunewald@laposte.net (=?iso-8859-15?Q?Micha=EBl_Gr=FCnewald?=) Date: Tue, 05 Feb 2008 13:05:12 +0100 Message-ID: <86sl07y5fr.fsf@Llea.celt.neu> User-Agent: Gnus/5.11 (Gnus v5.11) Emacs/22.1 (berkeley-unix) MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=iso-8859-15 Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable Subject: Best practices for managing tweaked ports X-BeenThere: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org X-Mailman-Version: 2.1.5 Precedence: list List-Id: User questions List-Unsubscribe: , List-Archive: List-Post: List-Help: List-Subscribe: , X-List-Received-Date: Tue, 05 Feb 2008 12:05:33 -0000 Dear FreeBSD folks, I am seeking for a word in advice in how to automatically tweak some applications, possibly making packages for them. Long version: The XDM software provides an example to illustrate the issues: I have written scripts and configuration files that tweaked XDM to my fancy, and I wonder how use them to a large (large has a magnitude of 2 :) ) scale. The current solution is: I have a post install shell script that plugs my files into appropriate location. This works but there is two drawbacks: 1. I have to run that post install shell script on each targetted machine; 2. The home-made files are alien to package management tools, and cause (little) trouble int package management tools operation. Here are solutions I envisaged, I would like to know about pitfalls, recommendations, user experience, etc., with these: 1. I do use portupgrade, so I could use A/B (afterinstall, beforebuild) switches, hooks in pkgtools.conf as a base for a simple `port tweaking framework'. This would however not produce packages with tweakings wired in. 2. I could prepare ports dedicated to tweaking, i.e. a port that installs nothing but configuration files. I am afraid this cannot be done in a straightforward manner, since a given file (say /usr/local/lib/X11/xdm/Xresources) cannot be managed by two packages (the one made from the original XDM, and the one made from the XDM tweaker port) . 3. I could prepare a port derived from the original XDM port, that adds any tweaking, and play with pkgtools.conf to remap port dependencies adequately. As stated in the introduction, I would be very glad to get your advices, from your direct experience in this topic as well as `a priori'. --=20 Many thanks for your attention. Cheers, Micha=EBl