> > > > Bringing NetBSD up to XFree86 4.x, I think, might best be done by putting
> > > > it in a package for now.  This way, it would be ``officially available''
> > > 
> > > Before that, it might be a good idea to "packagize" NetBSD's X.
> > 
> > I don't entirely see why 4.x can't be ``packagized'' first, and then only
> > packagize 3.3.6 later, if there's a need.  Mind, I'm spectacularly good at
 [...]
> I do. It would be a maintenance nightmare to make a standard XFree
> package with hundreds of little patch-?? files. Moreover, it would be
> a step backwards, since we already have xsrc in-tree.

Okay, I'm failing to make a connection here.  Why is it better to package
our existing XFree86 3.3.6, with ``hundreds of little patch-?? files''
first?  Or am I misunderstanding your meaning? 

If anything, it seems to me best (in view of this) to leave 3.3.6 as-is.


> > Could a packaged 3.3.6 (or whatever) XFree86 make it in time for 1.5?
> 
> No chance. This is still at the "pie-in-the-sky" stage. Perry's

The question was at least in part rhetorical.  I kind of took for granted
that the current NetBSD X server has no chance of being packaged for 1.5.

My point was this: Until we get X packaged one way or the other, there
will be little incentive (or solid testing grist) to address issues
between X and a pkgsrc that assumes a non-packaged X.  A packaged X 3.3.x
won't appear until (at the earliest) the release after 1.5.  (Well, it
could appear ``anytime'', but if it's just a package of what ships with
1.5, there's not much point in using the package.  And, too, if the
package looks just like the X that ships with 1.5, packages won't have
much to test against.)


> > But, a packaged 4.x could be done (and used)
> > ``anytime''---as soon as the package was ready.
> 
> Don't go there. How do you intend to maintain the patches? Like I
> said, we already have an in-tree xsrc, so the only good choices are
> branch, or wait.

I wasn't thinking of a regular package.  I had something in mind more akin
to the LINUX emulation libraries, or Netscape binaries: pkgsrc provides a
fetch-and-install wrapper, nothing more. The intent may not be so much in
the spirit of NetBSD, but does seem somewhat in the spirit of the package
system.

I'm having second thoughts about the idea, now (e.g., what about non-i386
ports?).  But this way there would be no patches to maintain on our end.


  "I probably don't know what I'm talking about." --rauch@eecs.ukans.edu