installation sequence

[Michael Powell]

PJ wrote:

> Does anybody have an idea of what the oder of files and dependencies is
> to install programs without all sorts of nonsensical errors?
> I usually have no problem installing FreeBsd whatever with apache22,
> cups, samba, php, mysql xorg etc. etc. I say usually because from time
> to time there do crop up some conflicts and they can usually be resolved
> by just looking at the error messages when the install is interrupted...
> usually one reinstalls the guilty port and voila! all things are in an
> ordered universe!
> But how do you avoid those error messages... I installed a pretty
> minimal 7.2 about a week ago and since then have been putzing about with
> a more serious installation of 7.2 on a larger disk to include xorg and
> a number of pretty cumbersome applications.
> I usually start with samba as that permits me to wander about on my lan
> and download and play around with other stuff while I am waiting for
> those substantial installs like jdk and xorg et al.
> So now, I have installed samba... works fine... thereafter I have been
> installing jdk16 and some other proggies like openldap and php5 and
> mysql ... actually, I was doing those because apache22 wouldn't
> compile... it grinds out a slew of errors that all seem to be related to
> ldap..."util_ldap.c:2135 (or other numbers) and all have the notation
> "undeclared (first use in this function) and finally the ghost gives up
> with Error code 1.
> 
> Exactly the same installation with the same configuration on the smaller
> installation went without a hitch... (and on the same computer,
> different disk) The versions are the latest available and on 7.2...
> I have tried uninstalling php5, openldap, and removing the work
> directory for apache22, but the result is always the same... this is
> absurd. Can anybody make any sense of this... I don't like the idea of
> starting all over again... done that, been there, and still looking for
> some rationality to this world.
> Thanks for any ideas...
> _______________________________________________

Not entirely sure this is totally relevant, but I wouldn't install any 
packages or third party apps when first installing a fresh system. The 
packages built at the time the release CD was created are already out of 
date and the ports tree has moved forward.

It's OK to go ahead and install the ports tree as part of the fresh install, 
however do not use it! The first thing I do after a fresh install is to csup 
the ports tree to '*default release=cvs tag=.'. (I know it's silly but don't 
confuse the tag=. with the end of sentence.) You have the best chance now 
for dependency tracking to be dead on, but the chance always remains that at 
any one given point in time there may be errors. The ports tree is fluid and 
changes constantly. Usually if there is a problem and the port(s) 
maintainers are made aware they get it fixed fairly quick and a quick csup 
after they repair will make it all good again.

Also realize that the previously mentioned tag if applied to src-all will 
pull down the sources for -CURRENT/HEAD. I have two separate sup files for 
each collection, one for source and one for ports. You can put them both in 
the same supfile if you want and there have been recent examples posted, you 
just have to make sure to get it right or you'll have a real mess. In other 
words, be aware of the different tags between tracking src-all and ports-
all. Should you use the wrong tag to track ports-all you may experience 
inconsistent problems.

On another note, should you find yourself in a position where you have two 
perfectly identical machines sitting next to each other, e.g., you know 
positively for a fact that everything is the same such as ports tree freshly 
csup'ed, etc, and one machine is barfing during compiling you may have a 
marginally bad hardware memory problem. Compiling (especially make 
world/kernel) really hits the memory hard. I once had a machine whose memory 
would 'sing' with an audible tone only during compilation. Such a noise in 
chip circuitry is an oscillation which should not happen and if you continue 
to operate the chip under that set of conditions it will fry. 

About the only thing you could try in this scenario would be to add latency 
clocks to the RAM in the mainboard BIOS. Whether this actually helps would 
really only be test of the hypothesis and not a true fix. Most memory should 
just auto time itself by SPD and shouldn't need to be 'slowed down'. If I 
saw this I'd replace the memory with new, as if it can't operate correctly 
at the SPD timings it is of substandard quality. 

-Mike