Re: pkg_install in base system again

[Julio Merino <jmmv%NetBSD.org@localhost>]

On 11/6/11 7:35 AM, Aleksey Cheusov wrote:
> Some time ago Joerg proposed to remove pkg_install from base system and
> switch to using pkg_install from pkgsrc just like all other systems do.
> I agree with him and don't want to reproduce his arguments but I would
> like to raise this question once again.
>
> AFAIR the only argument against removal was that NetBSD is a number one
> system for pkgsrc and it is impractical to bootstrap pkgsrc for end
> users.  I've just imported othersrc/usr/sbin/pkg_setup script that I
> think solves this problem. The script downloads pkg_install package from
> the NetBSD binary repository, installs it and initializes pkgdb.
> Without arguments pkg_setup downloads the package from
> ftp://ftp.NetBSD.org/pub/pkgsrc/packages/$OPSYS/$ARCH/$OSVER.
>
> If pkg_setup were a part of the base system instead of pkg_install, the
> users would be able to initialize pkgsrc easily by simply running
> 'pkg_setup'.  As easy as that. Then bmake, bootstrap-mk-files and
> everything else can be installed with a help of pkg_add as usual. We can
> also provide a meta package that includes everything required for
> source-based updates and installation.

Why "pkg_setup"?  Wouldn't you be able to add wrappers for pkg_add, etc. 
that do the right thing on their own, transparently?  I.e. check if 
pkg_install is installed first and, if not, install it.  Then delegate 
the original pkg_add call.

Also, what happens when I check out pkgsrc and I don't have pkg_install 
yet?  Do I have to manually run bootstrap (which is a different code 
path to pkg_setup), or would this pkg_setup know to use the pkgsrc 
sources if they exist?  Can the mk files in pkgsrc be made to do the 
bootstrapping transparently when needed?