__FreeBSD_version bump? (was: Re: vlc 2.0.3 ProjectM path fix)

[Konstantin Belousov]

On Sat, Aug 18, 2012 at 10:45:10PM +0200, Juergen Lock wrote:
> On Wed, Aug 15, 2012 at 10:09:59AM -0700, Kevin Oberman wrote:
> > On Wed, Aug 15, 2012 at 5:01 AM, Juergen Lock <nox at jelal.kn-bremen.de> wrote:
> > > On Tue, Aug 14, 2012 at 09:54:54PM +0200, Olli Hauer wrote:
> > >> ...
> > >> >> I think I got it: It is only a problem of configuring in the running
> > >> >> vlc. You have to set the right path under
> > >> >> 'Settings','All','Audio','Visualizing','projectM'. That's all ;-)
> > >> >>
> > >> > Aah-haah! :)  I've fixed the default paths and made a new patch:
> > >> >
> > >> >     http://people.freebsd.org/~nox/tmp/vlc-2.0.3-010.patch
> > >> >
> > >>
> > >>
> > >> >From your patch:
> > >> > workaround is to deinstall the old vlc-1.x version before building
> > >> > the new one.
> > >>
> > >> What about a conflict line ?
> > >> CONFLICTS_BUILD=${PORTNAME}-1.*
> > >>
> > >> This allows users to fetch the source but they have to deinstall the
> > >> old version before building the new one.
> > >
> > > Hm well the rtld bug this workaround is for only affects the
> > > pulseaudio and notify knobs, and the workaround doesn't work for
> > > the notify knob so it would only cover half the cases, and also
> > > checking if this is needed in the port would require a
> > > __FreeBSD_version bump which is probably overkill for this bug.
> > 
> > And why is it overkill? I regularly see comments about not wanting to
> > bump __FreeBSD_version, but it's just an integer (though presented as
> > a fixed-point fraction). There is no shortage and I never have
> > understood why people are so hesitant to change it when there is a
> > real, even if fairly small benefit from the bump.
> 
> Hmm.  Alexander, what do you think?

Not being Alexander, but appeared on Cc:.

IMO, bumping __FreeBSD_version should not be done frivolous, and routine
bug fixes are definitely not the good reason to bump.

For one, users of HEAD or stable are assumed to run tip of the branch.
If you want defined point of the branch, use release. With this POV,
the usefulness of the bump for bug fix is only a week or two.

Second, bump of __FreeBSD_version signifies major incompatibility between
pre-bumped tree and current one. In the kernel, each bump of version in HEAD
means that new modules cannot be loaded into new kernel.

Bumping for bug fixes is a misuse of the mechanism which was put there
to provide information about major changes in system. For small or
detectable items, use autoconf-like runtime (or build-time *) tests.

* - Usually, the tests must be run-time, and not build-time. This bug is
greatly amplified by use of __FreeBSD_version. The case that initiated
the discussion is probably the first time I ever saw the when build-time
test makes some sense.
-------------- next part --------------
A non-text attachment was scrubbed...
Name: not available
Type: application/pgp-signature
Size: 196 bytes
Desc: not available
Url : http://lists.freebsd.org/pipermail/freebsd-ports/attachments/20120820/f688b401/attachment-0001.pgp