On Wed, 4 Feb 2004, "Jeremy C. Reed" <reed@reedmedia.net> wrote:
> Maybe there should be some per-package option like USES_AWK. Then
> another mk.conf configuration option like AWK_DEPENDS. If AWK_DEPENDS is
> set system-wide and USES_AWK is set for a package then the DEPENDS will
> be done.
> 
> So when I install it on another system, it will install the awk
> package too.
> 
> Any suggestions for option names?

It's more than awk, yes?  There's a general pkgsrc issue of coping with
runtime environments of varying richness.  Is the sed good enough?  Perl? 


For building, we have similar questions about the C and C++ compilers,
just for starters.  

Going at it from another direction: I've frequently updated some
underlying library needed by some package.  My update goes in /usr/local,
but it's not represented in the pkgsrc database and not detected by
pkgsrc.  If it were detected, or if there were some way to clue pkgsrc in
on the fact that an updated replacement is installed, we could avoid many
nuke-and-rebuild scenarios.  

I don't know what the answer is, but I think the problem is more general
than the one you posed.  

--jkl