Re: [HEADS UP] pkgsrc default database directory changed

[Thomas Klausner <wiz%netbsd.org@localhost>]

On Fri, Dec 04, 2020 at 12:51:17PM +0000, David Brownlee wrote:
> Plan for an immediate workaround, and a later fix. Possibly:
> 
> - Immediately: Update pkg_install in pkgsrc for NetBSD: if /var/db/pkg
> is present and $PREFIX/pkgdb is not, use /var/db/pkg with a warning.
> If both are present, also show a warning and pick on (probably
> $PREFIX/pkgdb)
> - Next: Coordinate pkg_install pullups into -7 -8 & -9, possibly of
> the workaround version first
> - Eventually: Drop the workaround, though possibly keep "if both are
> present show error and stop" logic
> 
> May need to tweak details, but something of this form

I think this tackles the wrong problem.

IMO the issue is that updating pkg_install is fragile.

You can bootstrap; or you can manually override the pkg_install build
in pkgsrc to avoid using cwrappers (and ccache).

The pkg_install package does not help you in any way, the logic for
getting a pkg_install without any dependency issues is abstracted into
the bootstrap process.

I think if we want to invest energy into this, we should make
pkg_install (and perhaps other bootstrap packages) buildable in a more
standard way like the other packages.

For now, I still think that the documented method of manually
overriding cwrappers and installing pkg_install manually into the
system path is easy and works good enough for most cases.

(Pullups of pkg_install to the -8 and -9 branches have been initiated;
-7 is desupported AFAIK).
 Thomas