César Catrián C. wrote:
> 
> I would like to know when it is safe to do a make replace for a package.
> 
> In example, libtiff, recently a patch was added to fix trasparency issues, it
> was not a release update, just a fix. is it safe a make replace for it?
> 
> Or doing pkg_tarup work for all dependent packages, building tiff, then 
> binary reinstalling all dependent packages again?
> 
> BTW, with pkgviews enabled, I've seen all binary packages installing to 
> /usr/pkg/packages but not in /var/db/pkg . Some packages are not recognized as
> installed.
> 

It's safe to do a "make replace" on a library when the new version is
binary compatible with the old one. For packages that use libtool and /
or library versioning properly it's generally safe to do a make replace
when only the patchlevel changes (for example, GTK+ going from 2.6.0 to
2.6.1). For some libraries, changes in the minor version number are also
OK (again using GTK+ as an example, the jump from 2.4.x to 2.6.0 was
binary compatible).

The release notes for the package you are trying to update (when such
notes exist), or a look at the cvs diff output when a packages "nb"
version changes should give you some idea whether a make replace is
going to be OK.

Chris