Re: heads up - BEAM ports purge in PR263694

On 14/06/2022 8:23 pm, Dave Cottlehuber wrote:
> hi everybody
>
> per https://www.freebsd.org/status/report-2021-07-2021-09/#_freebsd_erlang_ecosystem_ports_update
>
> I plan to remove most of the BEAM ecosystem ports that are more commonly
> directly installed by end-users via rebar3 or mix tools, and do not need
> substantial diffs, for example, to compile NIFs.
>
 [redacted]
>
> If you have any ports you'd like to keep, please let me know here:
>
> https://bugs.freebsd.org/bugzilla/show_bug.cgi?id=263694
>
> The current deletion list is below, refer to the PR for an updated
> list.
> [redacted] 

Dave,
I started this email asking how will a newbie to FreeBSD and Erlang
discover applications that are known to work on FreeBSD, and what the
"mix tools" were, that you'd mentioned.  We've been very lucky to stand
on the shoulders of those that have taken the time and effort to create
the many erlang ports, which I've benefited.

I do use
erlang-epgsql
erlang-gen_smtp
erlang-jobs
erlang-lager_syslog
erlang-cowboy
and was somewhat concerned that we wont be able to install packages but
need to rely upon: other repositories, rebar3 and possibly hex to find
extensions/applications.

HOWEVER - I was disappointed to find, for example, that the current
erlang-epgsql is 4.6.0, far removed from our ports version 4.1.0.
Clearly this change is appropriate and makes sense.

For those concerned about these changes, you may benefit from
investigating the rebar3.org site, in particular:
https://www.rebar3.org/docs/configuration/dependencies/
as well as find a library of Erlang applications at
https://hex.pm/packages

Perhaps we could reference these two sites as part of an Erlang
installation message or in the long description to assist those new to
the ports system, and provide some guidance?

Is there anything else that may help those transitioning?
Kind regards, Dewayne.

PS Thanks for doing a difficult, and sadly necessary chore