cvs commit: doc/en_US.ISO8859-1/books/handbook/cutting-edge chapter.sgml

[Benedict Reuschling]

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Hello Alexander,

thanks for your suggestions. I was aware that this section needed
further work, but I wanted to get this initial version into the handbook
rather than delaying it further. I posted the patch for review on the
doc-mailing list, but no one except gabor gave any feedback. Perhaps I
should have given it a more wider review-exposure, so that comments from
src-people could have been incorporated in that commit.

I'm heading to the PGDay conference early in the morning, so I won't be
able to get your improvements into that section until next weekend. If
anyone of my fellow doc-committers could help out, I would appreciate it.


Am 04.12.10 20:38, schrieb Alexander Leidinger:
> On Sat, 4 Dec 2010 17:56:15 +0000 (UTC) Benedict Reuschling
> <bcr at FreeBSD.org> wrote:
> 
> 
>> bcr         2010-12-04 17:56:15 UTC
>>
>>   FreeBSD doc repository
>>
>>   Modified files:
>>     en_US.ISO8859-1/books/handbook/cutting-edge chapter.sgml 
>>   Log:
>>   Add a section about deleting old files, directories and libraries
>> with a short description why this is necessary.
> 
> Pointy hat to: netchild (for not doing something like this when he
> implemented this).
> 
> Improvement suggestions:
>  - While this is already covered in "implemented elsewhere":
>    Changing the version number of a library can also be a
>    reason. Strictly speaking this is "elsewhere", from another
>    point of strict-view this is not elsewhere but in the the
>    same library, just another version.
This is more precise than my (rather crude) description and should not
be too difficult to rewrite.

>  - There is not only the argument of storage space, but also
>    security (if an old lib-version is used which may contain
>    a security hole or not), and stability (old lib version
>    may have a little bit different behavior, or may cause crashes
>    if mixed with more recently compiled stuff which includes
>    a reference to a more recent version of the same lib). This
>    is mentioned at the end of the description, but IMHO it would
>    be better to describe this in the beginning.
Same here.

>  - check-old includes check-old-libs, no need to run both.
I see. Is there any reason why someone would just run check-old-libs? If
so, perhaps we can add a little bit of information about that to that
section as well.
>  - I suggest to delete the files after a mergemaster was done,
>    and not directly after the installworld. This way an outdated
>    rc- script can not reference something which gets deleted.
I think this contradicts the description in /usr/src/UPDATING:
...
mergemaster -p
make installworld
make delete-old
mergemaster
...

I used it like this in the past and never had a problem with it (to be
fair: I cowardly skip over the make delete-old-libs step each time). :-)
If we change this, then perhaps we also need to update the description
in /usr/src/UPDATING.

>  - Running delete-old-libs blindly is not a good idea. Before
>    the delete-old-libs there should be a check if something
>    references those libs (e.g. with sysutils/libchk), and if
>    yes, the ports/programs/libs should be recompiled before
>    the delete-old-libs target is executed. It is mentioned
>    at the end that you shouldn't remove files/libs which
>    are still used, but IMHO it would be better to mention
>    it before telling to do delete-old(-libs).
This is true and also a crucial/dangerous step in the process. Moving
the section from the end closer to where you suggested it should be
relatively easy.

>  - BATCH_DELETE_OLD_FILES does not need to be an env-var,
>    as a make-var it works too:
>      "make -DBATCH_DELETE_OLD_LIBS delete-old"
I see, this can also be fixed quite fast.

>  - As portmaster is mentioned, I suggest to mention portupgrade
>    too.
What would be the exact invocation of portupgrade? Rebuild all installed
ports or just the ones that are affected by that lib?

Regards

Benedict Reuschling
FreeBSD Doc Committer

The FreeBSD Documentation Project
FreeBSD German Documentation Project - https://doc.bsdgroup.de
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