On 12/02/2016 14:56, Jim Ohlstein wrote: > This is a good point. I still don't understand why pkg(8) is not in the > base (though I imagine there's a reason and it takes less than a minute > to install). There can't be many users who install a base system and use > it without a single additional piece of software. However, for my $0.02, > that is the only change I'd make to base at this point with respect to > package management, aside from my pkg(8) wishlist. As an aside, and > fwiw, unless there is a non-GPL'd Ada compiler out there, we won't see > Ada or any Ada-based binaries in base, even if Synth turns out to be the > best thing since sliced bread.
The primary reason pkg(8) is not in base is to decouple it from the
FreeBSD release timescale. Given the promises about API/ABI stability
over a major release branch, development of pkg(8) would be forced to
slow to a crawl.
pkg(8) still has a lot of changes yet to be realized, both in its own
code, and in the code of both the ports and the base system, and in
adjunct software like poudriere or indeed, synth, so it is likely to
remain a 'port' for some time to come. It is not completely
inconceivable though that at some future point, pkg(8) will have matured
into stability and require little further development, in which case,
importing it to base would be a natural next move.
Cheers,
Matthew
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