Subject: Re: Why are packages ever installed to /usr/X11R6?
To: None <tech-pkg@netbsd.org>
From: Greg A. Woods <woods@weird.com>
List: tech-pkg
Date: 01/19/2003 00:44:57
[ On Saturday, January 18, 2003 at 16:34:01 (-0700), Jim Bernard wrote: ]
> Subject: Re: Why are packages ever installed to /usr/X11R6?
>
>   Well, that's clean from the standpoint of managing app-defaults, but it's
> very unclean from the standpoint of managing X11 installations.

Why do you say that?  What's "unclean" about it?  pkg_add et al take
care of telling you which files belong to which packages.  The only
thing that's missing is a meta-package for the files installed from
xsrc, and that would be nearly trivial to frob up with pkg_create prior
to installing any packages (i.e. have some meta package that does this
as part of its install and which is a dependency of all other packages).

No, you can't update your underlying X11 in a hygienic manner, but you
shouldn't expect to without re-installing all the packages which depend
upon it anyway.

>   It's not a big deal to me to stick with xpkgwedge, but I do think it
> would be nicer not to have to use it to keep packages from contaminating
> X11 installations, and I believe it would make life easier for newcomers.

It's easy to make xpkgwedge a required dependency for all packages.

-- 
								Greg A. Woods

+1 416 218-0098;            <g.a.woods@ieee.org>;           <woods@robohack.ca>
Planix, Inc. <woods@planix.com>; VE3TCP; Secrets of the Weird <woods@weird.com>