Re: GSOC 2025 Project "Improve UI/UX of pkgsrc MESSAGE"

[Leonardo Taccari <leot%NetBSD.org@localhost>]

Hello Yaseen!

Solvable Hat writes:
> Hello Mentor,
> My name is Yaseen. I am currently studying Bachelors in Computer Science
> and Engineering.
>
> I am interested in this specific project of NetBSD and want to contribute
> to it : Improve UI/UX of pkgsrc MESSAGE.
> Can you please give some insights on how to get started.
> [...]

Cool, sure!
Have you tried pkgsrc? If not... probably the easiest way is to install
NetBSD and then try to install some meta-packages.

I suggest to do a `pkg_add <some-meta-packages>` and save/look at the
logs. You should see that MESSAGEs gets printed in the middle of the
installation as soon as a package with MESSAGE is installed.
Please also try to do the same with `pkgin`.

It would be nice that MESSAGEs gets printed all in the same place, at
the end of the installation. This is the main problem to tackle.

After experiencing that I suggest to write us back with how the logs
looks and what could be improved also in your opinion. I suggest to
also try to give a look to pkgsrc infrastructure and/or
pkgtools/pkg_install and also describe which components are involved in
printing the MESSAGEs.


If you have any questions or anything else do not hesitate to contact
me!


Thank you!