Date: Fri, 30 Aug 1996 09:20:01 -0500 (EST) From: John Fieber <jfieber@indiana.edu> To: Chuck Robey <chuckr@glue.umd.edu> Cc: Satoshi Asami <asami@FreeBSD.ORG>, jkh@time.cdrom.com, freebsd-ports@FreeBSD.ORG Subject: Re: Should this port go in ? Message-ID: <Pine.BSI.3.95.960830085948.5578P-100000@fallout.campusview.indiana.edu> In-Reply-To: <Pine.OSF.3.95.960829150126.18576A-100000@baud.eng.umd.edu>
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On Thu, 29 Aug 1996, Chuck Robey wrote: > I thought about adding some cpp structure to a PLIST, specifically the > ability to do defines and ifdefs. This would allow the PLIST to change > dynamically, depending on variables that existed at the time of package > creation. On unpacking, though, the variables could be different than > when the package was created. Just the other day, as I was dealing with a PLIST that didn't match what actually got installed, I was thinking that there is something fundamentally wrong with the system. The idea I had was to modify install to (optionally) log installations. The logging could be controlled either through command line options or environment variables. Obvious things to log would be the file and a tag (port name), but things like the user, time and file checksum could be added. The latter might be useful when upgrading a port to find files which might have local modifications needing to be preserved. This could even be used for the FreeBSD distribution itself, making upgrades safer and easier. Then, instead of carefully making sure the PLIST matches what is really installed, you just make sure that the port uses install instead of cp to place its files. bsd.ports.mk would set the appropriate environment variables to log the installation. The record of the installation is 100% correct, even if there are variant installation options. The manually maintained PLIST seems to be like flypaper in a barn. -john == jfieber@indiana.edu =========================================== == http://fallout.campusview.indiana.edu/~jfieber ================
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