Port system "problems"

[Andrea Venturoli]

On 06/26/12 12:42, Matthew Seaman wrote:

>> What I anticipate will often happen is installing some port, finding out
>> that some part is missing, install the missing part, repeat that several
>> times.
>> I just hope I'm wrong (and again, it is at all possible that I am wrong
>> here).
>
> Yes, you raise a valid point.  Should you have to compile and maybe
> reinstall all of php5  just to add some extra modules?  Clearly not.
>
> This isn't going to be a problem for people that use binary packages,
> because they can just download and install the extra module from the
> standard pkg repositories on the net.
>
> What about people that want to compile their own?  They certainly should
> not be relegated to second-class citizens even in this bright new dawn
> of pkgng.  Well, part of the answer is under development:
>
> http://wiki.freebsd.org/ports/StageDir
>
> With this, you can create packages without having to install them.  You
> can equally well create sub-packages without having to install them.
> So, you might compile all of the php5 sub-packages, but only install
> some of them.  The rest you keep stashed away somewhere, so that when
> you suddenly discover a pressing need to add php5-shiny to your existing
> collection of php-related bits, it's just a matter of 'pkg add php5-shiny'.

I'm not sure I undestood correctly (from this and other posts); please 
correct me if I'm wrong:
_ the whole thing is aimed at packages; I won't be able to install ports 
directly, but I'll get an intermediate step that creates packages 
automatically;
_ in the PHP example, I will create lots of subpackages, but I will 
eventually install only some;
_ I can keep the packages somewhere, so I can install them later.

Well, if I'm correct, the above will be a no go for me: lots of my 
customer's servers are tight on disk space and they won't spend for new 
storage. So this will mean I won't be able to use ports anymore and I'll 
need to download packages directly?

  bye & Thanks
	av.