It bit me again so I thought I would make the suggestion again.  If it's a bad 
idea please feel free to tell me why.

I just went to install one package and woumd up rebuilding my entire KDE.  I 
don't mind so much as I assume that there were good reasons for going to the 
nb1 version of the package but I hate the way it makes the system unusable 
for hours.  The problem is that it deletes everything and then rebuilds it 
all.  I wonder why we don't change the update process from

    deinstall --> build --> install

to 
    build --> deinstall --> install

That way the system is never down except for the short time between the 
deinstall and the install.  This also helps the situation when, for whatever 
reason, a package doesn't build.  I just think that "make update" shouldn't 
involve so much praying.  Not that praying helps.  As I write this I see this 
in the other window:

    /usr/obj/x11/qt3-tools/work.i386/.buildlink/bin/.logic-trans: 195: Syntax 
error: ";;" unexpected

Now I am down even longer while I figure out what happened.

All I am suggesting is not to blow away the old stuff until you know that you 
have something new to replace it with.

-- 
D'Arcy J.M. Cain <darcy@netbsd.org>
http://www.NetBSD.org/