Recording multiple package installs...

[Oliver Eikemeier]

Paul Chvostek wrote:

> I'm building a port for a PHP-based application that (like www/gallery
> and so many others) could potentially be installed in multiple locations
> on one server.  I'll aim this email at users familiar with that port.

Sorry, I don't use it, but perhaps I can give some useful feedback in 
spite of this?

> I never use the www/gallery port, because in its current incarnation, a
> second tries to record the package install to the same place as the
> first.  I'm either forced to FORCE_PKG_INSTALL, b0rking my package db,
> or skip the package altogether.  It just ain't right.

You could use make PREFIX=... 
PKG_DBDIR='/var/db/pkg${PREFIX:N/usr/local}' install...

> It would seem that ports like www/gallery (and databases/phpmyadmin and
> others) could do with some way to idenfify the different installs that
> might occur on the same host.  So ... where to record that?
>
> Would PKGNAMESUFFIX be the right place to put this information?

No. If we really feel the need to support multiple installation of 
ports, we should first understand the problem better. This does not 
solve issues of dependencies, conflicts, and upgrading.

> [...]
> And while we're on the subject of www/gallery, what about using
>
> 	GALLERYDIR=${GALLERYDIR:C/^[^\/]/$PREFIX\/&/}
>
> to allow for fully-qualified install paths, instead of forcing PREFIX on
> the front of everything?  It would require some rewrite of the gallery
> port, but would it necessarily break things?  One could always set
> PREFIX=/, but does gallery resist installing outside $PREFIX for any
> particular reason?

Thy ports shalt not install files outside of PREFIX.
-Oliver