/usr/ports & portupgrade when only using packages

[Nikola Lecic]

Mel,

On Wed, 5 Sep 2007 20:53:24 +0200
Mel <fbsd.questions at rachie.is-a-geek.net> wrote:

[...]
> You could manage with pkg_add/pkg_delete, but then:
> 1) *You* have to find out which packages are eligible for upgrading
> 2) Upgrading a package will mean delete the old version before
> installing the new one

Deleting the old version before installing the new one (obviously!)
happens always when you upgrade/downgrade/reinstall something, whatever
method you choose (compiling through ports or using packages). If you
compile through port, a package will be created on your machine after
compile, so the result should be the same (unless you have custom
options).

> 3) *You* will have to backup libraries manually.

Unless you use portupgrade or portmaster, you will have to do a lot of
manual job, no matter what method you use. This (and similar) warnings
are not specific to use of packages.
 
> (Yes, I realize portupgrade does this)

The main strength of portupgrade is that it provides a possibility to
mix installations through ports and using packages. If you use -P it
will combine them giving a chance to a package first. You can tune
this behaviour in pkgtools.conf using USE_PKGS and USE_PKGS_ONLY. If
you keep an eye on appereance of newly built packages on FreeBSD servers
(sometimes it is announced, e.g. after big Xorg upgrade) you can use
-PP more comfortably. Otherwise, some (easily curable) inconsistencies
might occur.

If you use -PP, make sure you have the correct PKG_SITES variable
(pointing to stable dir), or you will fetch very ancient versions.

If a machine is slow, it's a good idea to fetch packages first (either
with '-P -F' or with '-PP -F') and have a look what will be used in a
real install.

FYI,

> People using reply to all on lists, must think I need 2 copies.

People don't need to be subscribed to be able post to FreeBSD lists.
Many of them are subscribed to digest versions. That's the reason why
Reply-To-All is a convention, and you should do so if you want your
answers to reach users you are replying to.

Nikola Lečić