Date: Fri, 07 Dec 2007 00:18:15 -0500 From: Alex Goncharov <alex-goncharov@comcast.net> To: Paul Schmehl <pauls@utdallas.edu> Cc: freebsd-ports@freebsd.org Subject: Re: (Very) bogus package dependencies Message-ID: <E1J0VbL-0006bi-6S@[24.61.20.41]> In-Reply-To: <8B6AA93E1BD6BB1C2A23236A@paul-schmehls-powerbook59.local> (message from Paul Schmehl on Thu, 06 Dec 2007 22:41:27 -0600) References: <E1J0Q3W-0000NQ-D9@[24.61.20.41]> <20071207001315.GA58050@owl.midgard.homeip.net> <E1J0TxL-000J4O-8V@[24.61.20.41]> <8B6AA93E1BD6BB1C2A23236A@paul-schmehls-powerbook59.local>
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,--- You=Paul (Thu, 06 Dec 2007 22:41:27 -0600) ----*
|
| > --------------------
| ># find /usr/ports/sysutils/hal -type f -exec grep -Hn 'cdrtools' {} \;|
| ># wc -l
| > 0
| > --------------------
|
| That's because you're not looking in the right place. Open the Makefile
| for hal and you find:
| USE_CDRTOOLS= yes
The place was right -- the character case was not: with `-i' I would
have seen it:
--------------------
# find /usr/ports/sysutils/hal -type f -exec grep -Hni 'cdrtools' {} \;| wc -l
1
--------------------
But thank you -- that's exactly the information I was looking for.
| Now, why cdrtools is required to build the port is a question that is
| answered by going to /usr/ports/Mk/bsd.port.mk and reading the section on
| USE_CDRTOOLS. Then continue to trace from there, and you will find that
| hal won't build without some file or files that are installed by cdrecord.
Excellent -- thank you!
| (No, I'm not going to do that for you.)
That's a bit disappointing...
Just kidding -- I'll do it *gladly*, now that you directed me to the
right places.
| > So, is it that a port maintainer creates `/var/db/pkg/PKG/*' files
| > by hand? Based on individual ideas? Not on really "must-to-have"
| > things, like dependencies on shared libraries?
| >
| Absolutely not! /var/db/pkg/portname is built by the ports system based
| upon how the port is built. Most maintainers (including me!) would have
| no clue what's in the CONTENTS page without looking at it, because we have
| "nothing" to do with its creation (other than the fact that we created the
| port.)
OK.
| > 2. (Conceptual): How reasonable are these dependencies?
| >
| I doubt seriously any port maintainer just picks dependencies willy-nilly.
| They're chosen because the source code docs cite them as requirements
| and/or because the port won't build without them.
|
| > In this case, `/usr/sbin/burncd' is all I need to burn CD's. I
| > have no practical reason to have `cdrtools' on my computer.
| >
| Of course you do. Otherwise it wouldn't be there.
I'll read `/usr/ports/Mk/bsd.port.mk' and may agree with you :-)
| > Why would the "Hardware Abstraction Layer for simplifying device
| > access" depend on a specific set of "CD/CD-R[W] and ISO-9660 image
| > creation and extraction tools" -- on this set and not on another?
| >
| It most likely doesn't. It depends upon a file or files that are
| installed by cdrtools.
Interesting.
| Look at one of my ports, security/barnyard. It depends on snort.
| Why? Because that's the only thing it's designed to work with.
| Without snort, there's no reason to have barnyard on your system.
| Another port, devel/byacc, has no dependencies at all. Another one,
| security/sguil-server, has multiple dependencies, some because
| they're required for proper operation, others because the port won't
| build without those libraries.
That approach I understand... `cdrtools' was a mystery -- and it gave
me a reason to ask the questions that I had long had in my head.
| If you want to spend time figuring all that out, be my guest, but
| the maintainers have already done all that work for you, and the
| committers have verified that it's required and that it works as
| expected.
| That's the beauty of ports.
I won't dispute the word "beauty" here -- I like the system very much.
But coming from some eight years of using Debian, I am still mystified
about the underling mechanics of ports.
Your answers definitely help -- thank you!
-- Alex -- alex-goncharov@comcast.net --
/*
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