> > > > (a) pkgsrc has a configuration file.  I think that it now comes up under
> > > > the name /usr/pkgsrc/mk/bsd.pkg.defaults.mk; to be found by the pkgsrc
 [...]
> > > I don't know if I'd copy the whole file over. Usually I just use
 [...]
> > Is there any reason not to?  It does make it easier to see what your
> > options are.  (Just browse the file and edit it to suit your needs.)
>
> We used to have a file, mk.conf.example, which was used in the same
> way you describe - copy it to /etc/mk.conf, and edit in place. Over
> time, new options get added to the defaults, others get taken away,
> others still get changed. And merging this into your (old) version

...which makes a pretty good argument for just copying over the new one
and editing it, if you have much by way of personal preferences at
variance with the defaults.  (^&  Trying to figure out what *new* options
have been added seems like a chore.  (Unless there's some guarantee that
the order of options will never change so that you can sanely diff the new
defaults against the old.  Even then, you have to remember to make a copy
somewhere before you delete the old defaults file.  And, if the meaning of
options ever changes, you have more trouble trying to merge stuff in.)

Practice shows me that it's undesirable to update pkgsrc on a regular
basis.  After the Nth time of rebuilding libpng, and hence reinstalling
all and sundry, because some obscure package *really* thinks that it needs
the latest and greatest libpng, I stopped updating pkgsrc.  Assuming
infrequent updates of pkgsrc, I still maintain that it's easiest to copy
the file to /etc/, then browse it and make changes.

I actually assumed that the renaming of the file was in order to better
support mutiple OS alternatives.  It never occured to me that it reflected
a change of usage by some people.


> This has made things much easier for me, as a user of pkgsrc, and I
> haven't heard any bad press about it up until now. Something tells
> me I shouldn't have said that.

I don't have any objection with it.  But it hasn't really made life any
easier for me, either.  Or more difficult.  I just had to re-locate the
file after it got renamed and I (eventually) updated pkgsrc on my system.


  ``I probably don't know what I'm talking about.'' --rauch@math.rice.edu