I'd like to do my bit to support FreeBSD

[Bill Moran]

In response to "Jim Stapleton" <stapleton.41 at gmail.com>:
> I've found quite a few tricks and techniques for handling FreeBSD's
> ports system when things go south. I'd like to add them to the
> handbook, adding, lets say "4.5.6 - When Ports Attack".
> 
> OK, really it'd be more along the lines of "4.5.6 - Installing Ports
> When Things Go Wrong"
> 
> It would give hints that I've aquired over time from the mailing list,
> or my own use:
> 1) config-recursive (my most recent gem aquired from you nice people!)
> 2) Keeping flag-sets in your make.conf (basically several sets of
> CFLAGS/CXXFLAGS, so if something fails, you can quickly try something
> else)
> 3) How to remove a broken dependancy (read: how to figure the next
> port up, the list, and then configure that port to remove the
> dependancy)
> 4) Rolling back your ports tree to an earlier date or dates, but
> globally or one port at a time
> 5) determining which step will fix your problem.
> 
> 
> Now, as far as I know this would requre:
> 1) Downloading the doc group of the ports tree to it's own special
> directory, keeping the CVS flags in tact - I should be able to do this
> 2) Editing the file of interest - trivial beyond belief
> 3) ??Generating the file??

Start here:
http://www.freebsd.org/doc/en_US.ISO8859-1/books/fdp-primer/index.html

As you read through that, you'll probably be pleasantly surprised how
well organized and automated everything is.  I know I was.

> 4) ??Submitting the diffs??

Also covered in the above link.

Once you've generated your docs (step #3) you can post your modified
copy to your personal website and direct people to it to get feedback
and suggestions.  There's also a dedicated mailing list for the
documentation project:
http://lists.freebsd.org/mailman/listinfo/freebsd-doc
which was very helpful when I was doing my first submits.

Thanks for stepping up to help out!

-- 
Bill Moran
Collaborative Fusion Inc.