mk/pbulk/pbulk.sh

[Havard Eidnes <he%NetBSD.org@localhost>]

Hi,

I was recently made aware of the mk/pbulk/pbulk.sh script, and
have used it to prepare a pbulk bulk build.

While it's nice, it could be better:

 * If you've run it before and have a populated /usr/pbulk with
   packages where the pkgdb is in /usr/pbulk/var/db/pkg, the
   script will fail, leaving the user to clean up manually and
   he returns to square zero.
 * If the pbulk.sh script failed (e.g. as above), it'll leave
   behind /tmp/work-pbulk, but a re-run of pbulk.sh will, instead
   of cleaning up the mess, refuse to run, leaving the user to do
   a manual cleanup and he returns to square zero.
 * If the main package installation in /usr/pkg contains any of
   the packages the pbulk.sh script wants to install, the script
   will fail, again leaving the user to clean up manually and he
   returns once again to square zero.

Add to this that it can take a considerable amount of time
(especially on some of my slower hosts) for any of these failures
to present themselves, and using it can be a pretty frustrating
experience.

Is there a good reason the script can't check a bit more about
the preconditions which have to be met before it delves into a
lenghty build which is doomed to fail?  Or that it can't
automatically mop up after its own failures?

Regards,

- Håvard