Flaws in the ports system?

[Vulpes Velox]

On Thu, 20 Oct 2005 12:39:48 -0700
Vizion <vizion at vizion.occoxmail.com> wrote:

> On Thursday 20 October 2005 10:47,  the author nocturnal
> contributed to the dialogue on-
>  Flaws in the ports system?: 
> 
> >Hi
> >
> >This is a very low priority discussion but i was just wondering if
> >there are any known design flaws in the ports system or other
> >reasons for the ports to be replaced by a new system.
> >
> >I'm wondering because ever since i started with freebsd and then
> >discovered the ports they have been working perfectly so i must
> >know if they truly are perfect or if some of you gurus out there
> >see flaws in the system.
> 
> 
> The system meets its original design specification - so to that
> extent I do not believe that the system is flawed. There is
> however, in my opinion, a big 
> BUT>>>>
> 
> With the changes in computing methodology and user expectations
> over the last 10 years the ports system appear to me to be in need
> of some immediate serious revision if Freebsd is going to be seen
> as meeting current and future challenges and user expectations. I
> am but one voice and what  I have to say is only my opinion. I see
> the following challenges:
> 
> 1. The user tools for maintaining the local ports collection do not
> include an integrated GUI for management of the ports tree, local
> installation, automated upgrading of the ports combined with
> configuration files. Such a management could be built using, for
> example, a web/database system or with a framework such as Eclipse.
> FreeBSD has been built upon the traditional **ix framework that
> relies, for its management, upon the sequential  use of multiple
> tools to solve problems. This is apowerful method for problem
> solving but it has not traditionally included the kind of user
> friendly GUI to which modern computer users are accustomed to and
> expect. To deliver a new ports GUI  would be a large project and,
> in a ddition to the foregoing ewquirements, should include a
> sophisticated ability to search information about th ports and link
> with port focused dynamic help files and provide an efficient
> interuser dialogue for each port.

Something like this should be regarded as a add on and not part of
the base system.