On Wed, 1 May 2002, Jeff Flowers wrote:

> NOTE: I posted this question earlier tonight but it didn't seem to make
> it out. My apologies if this question went through previously.
>
> I am installed NetBSD 1.5.2 with the comp.tgz set and no X-Window sets.
> After I completed the installation, I ran "gcc -v", which told me that
> the version of gcc with NetBSD 1.5.2 is version 2.91.66. I checked the
> NetBSD ftp site and discovered a package for gcc 2.95.3.
>
> Can I install NetBSD without the comp.tgz set and just install the gcc
> 2.95.3 package instead, or are there important files besides gcc that I
> need in comp.tgz? (Hope this question is understandable!)

The package won't overwrite anything in the base system. All the
packages install to either "/usr/pkg" or "/usr/X11R6". NetBSD
"packages" are unlike some system's packages, in that they're only
an adjunct to the base (core) system. The single exception is the
"pkg_install" package, which overwrites the pkg_ tools in the base
system and can't be de-installed, as otherwise, de-installing the
tool you need to install packages would leave you in a precarious
position. There is a move underfoot to "package-ize" the base
system, but it hasn't happened yet.

Frederick