Subject: Re: branching/snapshotting of pkgsrc
To: None <lainestump@rcn.com>
From: Alistair G. Crooks <agc@ftp.netbsd.org>
List: current-users
Date: 02/24/2000 00:57:22
> Is there any reason why pkgsrc isn't branched and snapshoted like the OS
> proper is? (or is that done somewhere and I missed it?) It seems kind of
> counterproductive to be telling people they should use the released version
> of the OS in a production environment, but having many of the pkgsrc
> packages updated so they're only able to work properly with -current.
> 
> At 11:58 AM 2/23/00 -0800, Tom Spindler wrote:
> >> 	When trying to print from Netscape Navigator 4.7 (installed from
> >> pkgsrc on NetBSD 1.4.1 on i386), selecting "Print" from the dialog always
> >> kills Navigator with an illegal system call. I haven't been able to
> >> diagnose it any further. Acrobat Reader, Ghostscript, and line printing
> >> all work for the same user.
> >
> >SuSE 6.3 uses the clone() call, which is only supported in -current,
> >IIRC. SuSE 6.1p1 works fine.

The reason that pkgsrc is not branched is because we try to support
it on all versions of all architectures. Where we can't support
it, we use the ONLY_FOR_PLATFORM and NOT_FOR_PLATFORM mecahnisms
in the package Makefiles to make it architecture and OS version
specific. The difference in OS versions is usually not enough to
warrant a completely different branch of pkgsrc, and leads to
administrative nightmares and web site bloat.

If you'd like to make a list of packages which only work properly
with -current, but don't have the appropriate *_FOR_PLATFORM
definition in the Makefiles, we'd be happy to look at them.
send-pr would be best.

Thanks,
Alistair