On Mon, 05 Sep 2011 10:50:19 -0400, Pierre-Luc Drouin wrote: > > >> I noticed that in > >> the past few years, updating softwares through ports has been requiring > >> more user intervention, due to the way some dependencies are being > >> updated from one version to the next. Would using binary packages allow > >> to avoid more such user intervention? > > Yes. All dependencies would be incorporated automatically. > > Only ports without equivalent package that additionally have > > OPTIONS to set would invoke a configuration screen, and this > > screen would have to be dealt with only in the first run of > > the updating process. > > > > There are also options for portmaster that can be used to > > control program behaviour in case of problems (e. g. some > > package not found, conflicting ports, versioning problem, > > or port marked "broken"). > > > So, what I was referring to in particulars was special updates like this: > 20110517: > AFFECTS: users of lang/perl* > AUTHOR: s...@freebsd.org > > lang/perl5.14 is out. If you want to switch to it from, for example > lang/perl5.12, that is: > > Portupgrade users: > 0) Fix pkgdb.db (for safety): > pkgdb -Ff > > 1) Reinstall new version of Perl (5.14): > env DISABLE_CONFLICTS=1 portupgrade -o lang/perl5.14 -f > perl-5.12.\* > > 2) Reinstall everything that depends on Perl: > portupgrade -fr perl > > So you are saying that this type of special interventions is not > necessary when using only binary packages, right?
Erm... no, or basically yes. :-) First of all, the example here refers to portupgrade, not to portmaster. The DISABLE_CONFLICTS variable is only required where something is built from source. By using packages, you can even _force_ installation of (maybe conflicting) packages, implying of course that this may cause damage. In _worst_ cases, there's the option to forcedly deinstall packages and then re-install them (in a newer version), this may be useful when the upgrade path is too much trouble. Coming back to that example: If you order portmaster to upgrade perl, you will traditionally also upgrade all ports depending on it. And if this is possible via packages (-P, -PP), it will "reconstruct" the dependencies properly so all programs can use the new perl version. However, as I've turned into a "compile guy" due to sufficient hardware, I usually use source-based updates when needed. I don't update my home system very often, because I'd like to keep it in a functional state. :-) So I've not come across that particular update yet, as I still have perl-threaded-5.10.1_4 installed, and there's nothing here that requires 5.12 or 5.14. When you choose to use portupgrade instead of portmaster, it's a good choice to always run "pkgdb -aF" before and after anything you do (e. g. also "around" a pkg_add -r command). I've been using portupgrade in the past, but today I prefer "just ports" (home) and portmaster (work). -- Polytropon Magdeburg, Germany Happy FreeBSD user since 4.0 Andra moi ennepe, Mousa, ... _______________________________________________ freebsd-questions@freebsd.org mailing list http://lists.freebsd.org/mailman/listinfo/freebsd-questions To unsubscribe, send any mail to "freebsd-questions-unsubscr...@freebsd.org"
