Subject: re: PROPOSAL: NetBSD System Packages (LONG)
To: Jim Wise <jwise@unicast.com>
From: Jonathan Stone <jonathan@DSG.Stanford.EDU>
List: tech-pkg
Date: 09/29/1998 14:06:53
>What follows is a quick proposal for how we can implement System
>Packages for NetBSD.  I am posting this now to generate
>discussion/debate/flames/suggestions which will hopefully lead to this
>being hammered into a more concrete plan.
>
>Barring any major objections, I would like to begin work on this in
>earnest toward the end of the week after next (I am in the process of
>packing to move right now, and want to give myself a little time to
>unpack).

hi Jim,

This looks like a very good, concrete summary of the various points
that've been discussed.

The only thing I'd like to see added is about the machinery of
deciding what goes into system packages and package sets.

The current scripts have machinery that allows us to specify contents
that are:
    * toolchain-dependent  -- elf vs a.out
    * architecture-dependent -- for all arches using a given CPU
    * port-dependent -- binaries for a specific port
      (e.g., READMEs that're port-specific).
I hope we dont lose that entirely;) but see below.

There's also been strong interest in making "package sets" be truly
machine-independent, where possible (X11 fonts, man pages, usr/share)
and shareable across architectures (e.g., sharing the userland on all
m68k ports).  We could do much better at sharing than we have to date,
given a little re-arrangment of the "set" contents.

This seems a very good time to start tackling this, too.