Ports/source dance

[Doug Barton]

Mark Bucciarelli wrote:
> No port upgrade for rubygem-rail as of yet.  No commits to CVS
> for the port either.  :(  The alert was posted only 16 hours ago,
> which isn't _that_ long.  But rails is back at 1.1.2, which is
> already a version behind, so I expect I should upgrade
> rubygem-rails from source today.
> 
> Should I create my own port (somehow, never done that) and
> install from that?  Or is there an easier way?
> 
> I guess the broader question is how to handle security upgrades
> when the port isn't ready.

First off, you posted to the wrong list, you should have posted this to
freebsd-ports@, ideally _after_ you contact the maintainer for the port
(which can be found in the port's Makefile).

To answer your question more usefully, the Porter's Handbook (on the FreeBSD
web site) has a lot of good information about how to create and maintain
ports. If you are lucky, the following will work for you for a quick and
dirty update till the maintainer (or you) have a chance to do a more
thorough job of it. If you're not lucky and need help, please follow up with
the maintainer, and the freebsd-ports list if needed.

cp -Rp /usr/ports/<blah>/rubygem-rail ~/
cd ~/rubygem-rail
vi Makefile
	Update version information to the desired version
make makesum
	Use some out of band method to try and determine that the files
	you downloaded are the right ones
make

If that all works, then you can deinstall the old version and 'make install'
the new one. Then of course it's up to you to conduct your typical quality
assurance process to make sure that the new version works for you, etc.

hth,

Doug


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