automating menu options in ports (and other ports build questions)

[Polytropon]

On Thu, 24 May 2012 23:55:17 -0600, Gary Aitken wrote:
> >> 5. It looks like the options which show up using sysinstall are from the
> >> OPTIONS variable in the Makefile.
> >
> > Excuse me, where exactly do you see compile-time options in the
> > sysinstall program? I know it can select and install packages,
> > but PORTS?
> 
> What I mean is the OPTIONS variable is what shows up when
>    make config
> is done (now that I understand it a little better)

The menu functionality is provided by the ncurses-based "dialog"
program and defined in /usr/ports/Mk/bsd.port.mk line 5953 +/-
(version 1.692 here).



> Unfortunately, lots-o-computers but only one screen :-(

I know this situation very well. One just _cannot_ be familiar
with all the many option names (that sometimes just sound like
logorrhea) and that make _no_ sense unless you know what they
mean. There are names where the meaning can be concluded, and
so the question "Do I need it?" can be answered; sadly that's
not always the case, especially when dealing with "modern"
software and their partially ridiculous naming habits.



> >>     Or is this a documentation project in the offing?
> >
> > I would welcome a kind of text file that lists all the strange
> > names with a short description of what they are and what you
> > need them for, being more informative than the short "one liners"
> > in the options dialog.
> 
> Can someone point me at the code that puts up the menu?

See /usr/ports/Mk/bsd.port.mk as mentioned above.

The "dialog" program also offers some examples which belong
to the base system, see /usr/share/examples/dialog, and of
course see "man dialog".



-- 
Polytropon
Magdeburg, Germany
Happy FreeBSD user since 4.0
Andra moi ennepe, Mousa, ...