On Sat, 1 May 2004, Jeremy C. Reed wrote:

: > SYSTEMBASE?=	${LOCALBASE}	# default to third-party behavior
: > #USE_SYSTEMBASE=		# if set in package, default to SYSTEMBASE
: > #USE_SYSTEMBASE.<pkgname>=	# mk.conf: make <pkgname> use SYSTEMBASE

I forgot to mention, too, that in the SYSTEMBASE!=LOCALBASE case, all
USE_BUILTIN.* would automatically be forced to "no" regardless of mk.conf
setting.  Since such an OS is built entriely from pkgsrc, there are no
non-pkgsrc "builtin"s.

: devel/ncurses
: pkg_install-info
: zlib
: PAM
: libcrack

Which, except for libcrack -- but that's probably Special 8-) -- look
offhand as immediate candidates for SYSTEMBASE.

: These packages provide components that I currently try to make available
: in /bin and /sbin by copying (so some duplicates of /usr/sbin and
: /usr/bin).

Since the system would be dynamically linked by definition, wouldn't it be
OK to have symlinks from /bin, /lib, and /sbin to their /usr/* counterparts
and be done with it?

: My main problem is that LOCALBASE=/ is broken, because then it doesn't
: know how to find pkg_* tools etc. (I posted another email about this in
: April.)

That's why SYSTEMBASE would seem to be best set as /usr.  Of course,
pkgtools/pkg_install should itself be USE_SYSTEMBASE twiddled.

: I hope to find a clear way to get my linux kernel, some modules, a few
: libraries, and a few tools to get installed to /lib, /boot, /bin, and
: /sbin. (I use symlinks for /boot and /lib/modules for now.)

Whatever *really* needs to be in / could be put there by proper
INSTALL/DEINSTALL scripts as needed.  Of course, you still need a bootstrap
medium, but beyond that, those special scripts should give you the
functionality you need.

-- 
-- Todd Vierling <tv@duh.org> <tv@pobox.com>