Can't install gnome2 - docbook-utils is broken

Joe Kelsey joe at zircon.seattle.wa.us
Fri Aug 15 15:12:23 UTC 2008


Gabor Kovesdan wrote:
>
>> Please submit this as a send-pr.  I have fought repeatedly with the 
>> docbook maintainers over fixing things like this to no avail.  Maybe 
>> if more people complain, then they will actually attempt to actually 
>> fix the multitude of docbook problems.
>>
>> This issue is one that I cannot easily see in the files.  The errors 
>> in docbook tend to be in places where things get added and deleted 
>> and the resulting files never match expetations.  Something has to 
>> change, but I do not know what it is.  I really do not want to have 
>> anything to do with maintenance of this steaming pile, but the 
>> current maintainer does not do a very good job either...
> I'm sorry it was my fault as I broke it with a docbook-310 change. 
> It's been fixed now. Could you please elaborate the other problems you 
> have with DocBook-related ports? I'd also like to see improvements in 
> this area and I'm willing to work on it.
I cannot give you explicit directions.

I try to keep my ports upgraded and up-to-date.  Every once in a while 
something happens and docbook just breaks.  I cannot trace it to any 
specific event, but the whole docbook system is just broken.  I have 
tried to deinstall all docbook ports and reinstall them, but is is very 
hard to do.  This is all because to the seemingly random application of 
sed to various XML files.  Trying to redo or undo the editing just makes 
everything break.  There has to be a better way to adjust these stupid 
XML files.

Anyway, when docbook breaks, I spend hours either in pkgdb or 
portupgrade trying in vain to get ports which depend on obscure docbook 
ports to actually build.  As far as I can tell, there is absolutely no 
reason for any docbook ports to exist anywhere, as I can simply ignore 
them and remove them from the dependency lists and everything continues 
to build.

/Joe



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