Portsnap and port versions

[Robert Inder]

I seem to be getting out-of-date versions of ports for reasons that I
don't understand, so I'm not sure what to do about it.

I'm setting up a brand new server to run FreeBSD.  I downloaded the
FreeBSD 6.2 Release CDs, and installed.  Everything seemed to go
smoothly.

CAVEAT: I've been using FreeBSD for several years, but this is the
first time I've installed it myself without expert guidance on hand...

Looking at the manual pages, I decided to use Portsnap.  So I did

   portsnap fetch  
   portsnap extract

I didn't change any configuration settings, but it seemed to work.

when it had finished, I cd'd to the directory for "portupgrade", and
typed "make" and "make install".  Everything seemed to go smoothly, and
portupgrade-2.1.3.3_1,2 was duly installed.

But when I tried to use it, I get messages about the portsDB being
corrupted: 

   bennu# portupgrade -N openoffice.org-2
   [missing key: categories] [Updating the portsdb <format:bdb_btree> in /usr/ports ... - 16515 port entries found .........1000.........2000.........3000.........4000.........5000.........6000.........7000.........8000.........9000.........10000.........11000.........12000.........13000.........14000.........15000.........16000..... ..... done]
   missing key: categories: Cannot read the portsdb!
   database file error

When I ask Google about this I discover lots of people had this
problem, and there is a posting from about ten
days ago saying that the fix is to use "a more recent portupgrade",
and somebody on the 1st of Feb saying they the problem is cured in
portupgrade-2.2.2_2,2.  

So I've got an obsolete version, even though I installed the port
straight after using portsnap.

This morning, I tried "portsnap fetch" and "portsnap upgrade"...

   Looking up portsnap.FreeBSD.org mirrors... 2 mirrors found.
   Fetching snapshot tag from portsnap1.FreeBSD.org... done.

But although it reported 3 metadata patches and 91 patches, it didn't
change the "portupgrade" port: it is still 2.1.3.3.

What is happening?  

Have I mis-understood ports and/or portsnap?  I THOUGHT that portsnap
would bring my ports tree up to date, so it would contain
(descriptions of) the latest versions of all the ports, so that they
would be fetched and installed by "make".

If that's right, why is portsnap leaving me with 2.1.3.3 ten days
after people were talking about using 2.2.2?  What can I do to get up
to date?

If it's wrong, please enlighten me, and tell me how to go about
getting the latest versions!

Robert.

--
Robert Inder            Tel: 0131 229 1052        Interactive Information Ltd,
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