pkgng questions

[Mark Felder]

On Thu, 30 Aug 2012 08:43:54 -0500, Jamie Paul Griffin <jamie at kode5.net>  
wrote:

> Can i ask, why is it that shifting the community to using packages is  
> deemed to be a better approach? I like being able to select  
> configuration options to build software. I have never installed a  
> pre-compiled package since using FreeBSD version 6.x.

The long-term goal is subpackages so this need is alleviated. The only  
reason to compile yourself then is to play with the CFLAGS. :-)

Example: right now if you want to build a webserver running Apache and PHP  
quickly with FreeBSD you have no choice but to use ports. The PHP package  
doesn't provide the Apache PHP module. But if we had packages for the  
independent options: php5-apache, php5-php-fpm, php5-cli, php5-cgi.... You  
see where this is going. It's moving toward the modularization that many  
Linux distros use. Some people are going to hate this, but it makes  
support for the ports team MUCH more consistent because everyone runs the  
same binaries.