[RFC] Why FreeBSD ports should have branches by OS version

[Thomas Mueller]

> > I personally can't see the rationale of many OS version branches of ports: far too much work.

> > I had the thought of something like that for (NetBSD) pkgsrc: a very tall order, considering that pkgsrc has been ported to many OSes besides NetBSD.

> > Imagine a separate branch of pkgsrc for every version and branch of NetBSD, FreeBSD, Linux, etc.

> > I only follow the current branch of FreeBSD ports and pkgsrc, though now I have also become interested in pkgsrc-synth.

> Tom
        
> Are there any advantages of using pkg instead of pkgsrc on FreeBSD?

> Instead of having branches by OS version, would having ports LTS branches
> independent of the base system be a better solution?

> Grzegorz

It looks like you might have misunderstood something I said about pkgsrc.

I use pkg with FreeBSD ports on FreeBSD, but my interest in pkgsrc and pkgsrc-synth is for NetBSD.

Working with pkgsrc on NetBSD convinces me that they need to import portupgrade and/or portmaster from FreeBSD, maybe synth will be better?

Pkgsrc is awkward dealing with packages whose names have changes or branched.

Ports LTS branches, is that Long Term Service?  I don't really understand that question.

Tom