Unprivileged pkgsrc and multiple mk.conf files

["Gerard Lally" <gerard%netmail.ie@localhost>]

I am trying to set up unprivileged pkgsrc in amd64 6 Beta 2.

First I untar pkgsrc-2012Q1.bz2 to /home/gerard

Then I go to ~/pkgsrc/bootstrap and do

        ./bootstrap --unprivileged

This process creates the file ~/pkg/etc/mk.conf

There is also a file ~/pkgsrc/mk/defaults/mk.conf

In the pkgsrc documentation reference is made to yet another mk.conf, this  
time in /etc, but I do not have this file.

My problem is that the values in ~/pkg/etc/mk.conf are not honoured.  
LOCALBASE, for example, is ~/pkg in this file, but if I install anything  
from pkgsrc it goes to /usr/pkg instead. I have tried inserting the  
~/pkg/etc/mk.conf values into ~/pkgsrc/mk/defaults/mk.conf and also into  
/etc/mk.conf but no matter what combination I try I can't get pkgsrc to  
honour the values in ~/pkg/etc/mk.conf. Nowhere in the documentation does  
it say which mk.conf is honoured first, and in which order the others  
follow.

I am slowly finding my way in NetBSD but this one has me stumped. I would  
like to resolve it before 6 is released as I am going to take the plunge  
and migrate to NetBSD altogether. Sometimes the documentation is very  
frustrating. Too many assumptions are made in the pkgsrc guide which not  
everybody is able to understand. As I follow these mailing lists to the  
best of my ability I marvel at the work done by NetBSD developers and  
others but I do think the gaping holes in the documentation and wiki  
*urgently* need to be addressed. I am not the first person to need clear  
instructions how to use pkgsrc as an unprivileged user.