Subject: Re: pkgsrc and tcsh
To: None <port-sparc@netbsd.org>
From: Bernd Sieker <bsieker@freenet.de>
List: port-sparc
Date: 05/28/2002 09:16:26
On 27.05.02, 23:49:00, Charles Shannon Hendrix wrote:
> On Sun, May 26, 2002 at 06:19:56PM -0400, der Mouse wrote:
> 
> > The problem isn't one program in /bin.  The problem is that once you
> > let yourself install one program in one OS-managed directory, there's
> > much less reason not to make it two, then three, and before you know it
> > you can't tell what's what any more.  That's why I said "that way lies
> > madness", not "that is madness".
> 
> Well, that's self-discipline.  I have tcsh in /bin, and nothing else.
> 
> But sure, it could develop into a habit if you let it.  I tend to think
> people like that will do it anyway.  
> 
> > I avoid sliding down that slippery slope by refusing to start.
> 
> It's not uncommon for me to have /usr/pkg not mounted, and I need the
> shell, so it's in /bin.  I can't think of another way to handle that.

It could also be in your $HOME. I can think of other ways to handle
it.

The first things I do when I have to do something in single user mode
are usually fsck -p (unless I know the filesystem is beyond repair)
and then mount /usr (and, if on a sepereate fs, /usr/pkg), then start
tcsh. Not that much of a problem.

In earlier installations I sometimes had a statically linked tcsh in
/bin, but I agree with "der Mouse" that we should not start anything
like that. In German we say "Wehret den Anfaengen". One of the things
that set NetBSD apart from all Linux distributions that I know is that
you have a very sharp line between the core system, and user managed
directories, even with hundreds of add-on-packages installed.

I would like to always be able to depend on the fact that /bin, /sbin,
/usr/bin, /usr/sbin, /usr/lib and some more contain _only_ core system files.

This clear distinction has already been mingled with the default
X11BASE, which is the same directory of the X11 core installation,
which some might regard as part of the core installation, since
sysinst allows to install it. I am thinking about setting X11BASE to
something else to have a sharp line there, too.


Kind regards,
Bernd

-- 
Bernd Sieker

NetBSD, More Nines.
		-- Andrew Gillham