Second "RFC" on pkg-data idea for ports

[Stijn Hoop]

On Mon, Apr 12, 2004 at 11:40:59PM -0400, Garance A Drosihn wrote:
> What I'd like is some idea of whether this project is worth
> pursuing.

Just a few comments from a quick drive-by reading:

- it appears that your pkg-data format is in a language called
  Not Quite XML -- I think your longterm goal is worth it, so I'd
  suggest making it XML from the start
- why not use separate <patch></patch> sections (or did I miss that one)?
- a tool to work with the pkg-data format with the options you describe is a
  must -- in fact I'd go so far as to say that I (as a ports maintainer) would
  like to test an implementation of it before I can say whether it doesn't
  disrupt my workflow too much. Just to give you an idea how I work:

   - At the start I compile my port, get a failure, add a patch, retry again
   - Then I check whether the software works, check the packaging, etc. Again
     this is done by incrementally rebuilding etc.
   - When this is done I check pkg_add etc.

  I infer it should still be possible to compile a port without everything in
  a pkg-data file because otherwise this would force me to add two invocations
  of your tool before and after almost every step. I wouldn't mind having to
  run your tool before the packaging step because most of the time this just
  works (the port is nearly done anyway).

In general I think it's an interesting idea. It depends on maintainer/commiter
buy-in and a lot on the 'intrusiveness' of your changes wether it'll work
though.

HTH,

--Stijn

-- 
Man had always assumed that he was more intelligent than dolphins because
he had achieved so much... the wheel, New York, wars, and so on, whilst
all the dolphins had ever done was muck about in the water having a good
time. But conversely the dolphins believed themselves to be more intelligent
than man for precisely the same reasons.
		-- Douglas Adams, "The Hitchhikers Guide To The Galaxy"
-------------- next part --------------
A non-text attachment was scrubbed...
Name: not available
Type: application/pgp-signature
Size: 187 bytes
Desc: not available
Url : http://lists.freebsd.org/pipermail/freebsd-ports/attachments/20040413/f1128d74/attachment.bin