Initial install (packages vs. ports)

[Matthew Seaman]

On Sat, Dec 20, 2003 at 11:13:23PM -0500, Trey Sizemore wrote:
> Just for clarification...
> 
> The trade off I see with installing from CD vs. doing a minimal install 
> is that when it comes time to upgrade it will cause more issues.
> 
> By this I mean that if I do a minimal install and then later install 
> from ports it will be more seamless than installing first from packages 
> (like KDE, for example) and then trying to upgrade with ports later.
> 
> Certainly packages from the CD would be installed quicker than having to 
> build from ports, but at the cost of future upgrades.

Actually, you'll be pleased to hear this is completely false.  pkgs
and ports are closely related and there's no problem in installing a
package and then updating it via ports or vice versa. portupgrade(1)
even has the handy -P option to make that sort of thing easier.

A pkg is nothing more than the result of compiling a port, bundled up
in a tar ball and with a few extra bits'n'bobs to help keep the
administrivia in line.  You can build your own packages from the ports
tree simply by typing 'make package' in the appropriate port directory
-- although this will also install the port on your system.

There are other reasons for doing a minimal install -- generally when
I'm installing a box, I usually want to jump to the latest -STABLE
rather than the -RELEASE version from the CDs, so I tend to do a
minimal install from CD, grab the cvsup-without-gui package off the
CDs or the 'net and from there grab the latest sources into an empty
/usr/src and start building.  Similar treatment for ports -- instead
of installing the ports tree from CD, I find it's easier to just
cvsup(1) the whole tree starting with an empty directory.  This works
well if you have a decent amount of bandwith, and it avoids the 'adopt
the ports tree into cvsup' problem as described in:

    http://www.cvsup.org/faq.html#caniadopt
    http://www.cvsup.org/faq.html#adopt

	Cheers,

	Matthew

-- 
Dr Matthew J Seaman MA, D.Phil.                       26 The Paddocks
                                                      Savill Way
PGP: http://www.infracaninophile.co.uk/pgpkey         Marlow
Tel: +44 1628 476614                                  Bucks., SL7 1TH UK
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