Re: proposal to make bootstrap on Linux prefer pkgsrc by default.

["J. Lewis Muir" <jlmuir%imca-cat.org@localhost>]

On 08/13, Greg Troxel wrote:
> 
> Jason Bacon <outpaddling%yahoo.com@localhost> writes:
> 
> > On 2020-08-10 11:44, Greg Troxel wrote:
> >> So far, we have had discussion that supports changing it on Linux.
> >> Specific othesr, not so much, and "all others", not at all.  So I'd
> >> prefer to just change it on Linux where we have a good basis to believe
> >> that's in the interest of someone who doesn't understand this issue and
> >> runs bootstrap.
> 
> > I think the same reasoning would apply to Dragonfly BSD, FreeBSD,
> > OpenBSD, or any other platform where pkgsrc would be used alongside a
> > native package manager.
> 
> Maybe, maybe not.  BSD systems don't have such a reputation for ABI
> instability within a stable branch.

I don't think RHEL has a reputation for ABI instability; it is quite
stable.  In fact, it seems so stable that you could even call it *stale*
at some point since each major version of RHEL is supported for *ten*
years, and I think Jason said that a problem he's come across with RHEL
is that the system programs and libraries can end up being too old for
pkgsrc.  Anyway, this is just to say that I don't understand how ABI
stability can be a differentiating factor when evaluating BSD systems if
the consensus is that RHEL should default to prefer pkgsrc; there must
be some other factor at play.

Lewis