Re: pkg/54695 (MLDonkey Does Not Build)

[Jaap Boender <jaapb%kerguelen.org@localhost>]

The following reply was made to PR pkg/54695; it has been noted by GNATS.

From: Jaap Boender <jaapb%kerguelen.org@localhost>
To: gnats-bugs%netbsd.org@localhost
Cc: 
Subject: Re: pkg/54695 (MLDonkey Does Not Build)
Date: Tue, 4 Feb 2020 11:41:09 +0100

 It's a recurring problem with OCaml - software that isn't maintained 
 well goes out of date really quickly, usually with the next release of 
 OCaml.
 
 This is a problem that needs to be solved upstream - ideally by having 
 OCaml stop breaking things at every release, but that's not going to 
 happen any time soon; therefore it is up to mldonkey to make sure they 
 stay current with new OCaml versions. I have the feeling that mldonkey 
 is a bit of a derelict project at the moment (from the discussion on the 
 forum, I don't see anything to contradict this).
 
 I tend to update the OCaml version in pkgsrc when enough kinks have been 
 worked out, i.e. when not too much stuff breaks; this took a long time 
 for 4.08; for 4.09 there has been far less fallout and in fact I think 
 mldonkey is the first package that actually breaks in its latest version 
 (again seeming to confirm my impression that it's a bit derelict at the 
 moment).
 
 I'm open to a different update policy (for example, defining a few 
 packages that have so many users that no update can be done unless these 
 packages compile - unison, I suppose, would be high on that list), but 
 that discussion probably shouldn't be held here.
 
 OCaml doesn't deal well with mixing packages compiled by different 
 versions of the compiler, so I do feel that having multiple versions in 
 pkgsrc is asking for trouble. Downloading a version locally in one 
 package is not a wonderful solution either, for the same reasons.
 
 For the current bug, therefore, I'd say that patching mldonkey to work 
 with 4.09 is the way to go, either upstream or in pkgsrc. (4.10 is 
 already on the way too - the beta version is in wip if you'd care to 
 have a look.)