Re: pkg_add vs pkgin

[Greg Troxel <gdt%lexort.com@localhost>]

[crossposting trimmed; I do not believe it is appropriate to crosspost
to netbsd-users and pkgsrc-users, and this discussion is about how to
use pkgsrc and not specifically about NetBSD.]

Mayuresh <mayuresh%acm.org@localhost> writes:

> What I have learned over time is to forget trying to avoid compilation and
> just stick to pkgsrc. But I may be missing some tricks. I do not know if
> there are smarter ways to combine pkgsrc and binary repo.

There is only one way that is sound:

  Use the pkgsrc source version that matches the source that was used to
  build the binary package set you are using.

That's really all there is to it.

So, if you are using 2019Q1 binaries from the official bulk builds, use
the pkgsrc-2019Q1 branch for building from source.

You can of course update individual packages to head, but then you are
off the rails of soundness and should expect some trouble and to have to
deal with it.  That is a reasonable thing to do if you are able to
figure out the issues yourself.  Asking about problems arising from
deviating from the sound approach is likely to result in telling you to
go back and do it right, or no responses.