Re: pkgsrc create README for packages directory

["Jeremy C. Reed" <reed%reedmedia.net@localhost>]

I am replying to two emails below:

On Tue, 15 May 2012, Joerg Sonnenberger wrote:

> > It may be useful if pkgsrc automatically created a ${PACKAGES}/README 
> > file that said what operating system version it was built with and what 
> > branch or -current of pkgsrc it used.

(Or in pkg_summary)

I'd like to extend this idea to also include the username, hostname, 
contact details of builder. This could be overridden. So maybe a pointer 
to a webpage for build reports for example.

> I don't think that's very useful. Most, if not all, of that is
> effectively already embedded in the binary package. I also don't believe
> that it belongs into pkg_summary.

I don't want to download a binary package and analyze it to know what 
branch was used.

On Wed, 16 May 2012, Alistair Crooks wrote:

> Possibly, but that wouldn't help for binary packages.  Over time,
> pkgsrc-based package installations will accrue a number of packages
> built at different times (and, if one is following development
> versions of an operating system, with different OS versions too).
> However, we do codify that infrastructure information, and much more,
> in each binary package itself.  See pkg_info -b and pkg_info -B
> (output below)

I understand about a local install. (I have a mix of packages from 
different places going back for several years installed on single 
system.)

BUILD_HOST is useful.

> > pkgsrc should have some setting or file that identifies itself also.
> > Like always be called "HEAD" or "current" but then is changed for each
> > branch. Or do we already have this?

> I'm not sure I agree with this.  The end unit of pkgsrc is the
> (binary) package itself, more so since the build process was modified
> to generate the binary package and install that.  VCS information has
> really no relationship to the infrastructure that was used to build
> the binary package, as the packages all have version information
> embedded in them, and I'm not sure what you're trying to achieve with
> a file like this - last time it was updated from a VCS?  the version
> of the infrastructure it was built with?  Compiler settings?  Package
> version information? Please clarify.

The pkgsrc/mk and pkg_create tools may be different between different 
quarterly releases.  So a package with identical version may be very 
different (for example PLIST metadata changes or improved install 
scripts).  Yes, I'd like to know what version of the infrastructure it 
was built with.

I'd like to know before I install a package if it was built using 
current pkgsrc or on some quarterly branch. I'd like to know where the 
package came from.  I'd like to know where to look to find out why a 
package repo is incomplete.