On Fri, Jul 23, 2004 at 02:31:36PM -0700, Kenneth Porter wrote: > --On Saturday, July 24, 2004 9:22 AM +1200 Tom Munro Glass > <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > > >What should you do on FreeBSD if you have already installed various perl > >modules by other methods, specifically using portinstall/portupgrade? > >Should those packages be removed with pkg_deinstall and then reinstalled > >using CPAN? > > Do those utilities track installed packages and dependencies? What happens > if the distro upgrades something? (Esp. for critical security updates.) A > package that SA needed might get removed as part of the update, and SA > would be left with a missing dependency. This is the risk when you mix CPAN > and RPM.
That's true, it's risky. I've not seen rpm remove a needed module as part of an upgrade, but even if it did, it's so easy to refill the hole using CPAN. I have to use systems where RPMs must be supplemented from CPAN because (as noted elsewhere) I must install the Perl RPM to support other system utilities, and RPMs (especially current ones) are not available for many modules. > The more fundamental problem is that multiple packaging systems keep > independent databases recording what's installed on the system. What's > needed is a way for CPAN to use the native package database to keep its > state. Yeah, and world peace, too. :-) Sorry. But that is a pretty tall order. First there's RPM. Then, I think Debian (or one of the other distros) has a different system. HP-UX has its own system. Anyone else want to toss in another clinker? Yes, it can be a challenge to keep things straight, but that's why they pay us the big bucks, right? ;-) Cheers, -- Bob McClure, Jr. Bobcat Open Systems, Inc. [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://www.bobcatos.com God promised a safe landing, not smooth sailing.
