Impact of running pkgdb -fu

[Dan MacMillan]

Hi,

I have a question about the effect of running "pkgdb -fu", besides making me
laugh because of its whimsically profane command-line options.

Suppose I have been running "pkgdb -F" as suggested by portupgrade, and I
accidentally delete a stale dependency that should have been handled in
another way.  Will rebuilding the package database with "pkgdb -fu" restore
this dependency to its pristine, correct state?

On a related note ... I recently ran "portupgrade -rRa", as is my wont, and
it suggested I run "pkgdb -F".  So I did.  It reported as stale dependencies
packages that were never installed on my system.  Is this normal?  I haven't
seen it before.  For example it reported as a stale dependency of one of the
kde* packages the x11/nvidia driver.  Although I have that driver installed,
I downloaded and installed it by hand from the nVidia web site (I didn't
know it was available as a port).

Hence my question.  I accidentally said, "remove this dependency" to
"pkgdb -F".  After realizing that the dependencies "pkgdb -F" was reporting
as stale were actually not installed, I built each of those ports which made
"pkgdb -F" stop complaining about them.  I also subsequently built the
x11/nvidia port, but it's the removal of that first dependency that's
keeping me up at night.  Hence my question regarding "pkgdb -fu".  Does it
restore everything to its neat-and-tidy state?  Or am I cursed to live out
my days with a besmirched (or befouled, your choice) package database?

-Dan MacMillan