Manually registering dependencies for ports

[Doug Barton]

On 06/06/10 16:53, Thomas Rasmussen wrote:
> Hello,
>
> I've been wondering about something: When I write a script or webapp that
> needs some port to run, like a perl module, I install the needed port and
> life is good (tm). A year later when I've completely forgotten about the
> script I go do some spring-cleaning of the ports on the server, and I see
> some perl module that doesn't have any dependencies, and delete it. Fast
> forward a few days when I discover the script doesn't work anymore, cue
> face-palm, remove bullet from foot, etc.
>
> Is there some way I can register a dependency to prevent this ? Like
> adding a flag to an installed port to say "something outside of the ports
> system depends on this" along with a user specified comment string. A
> system like that could result in something like this:
>
> pkg_delete -x p5-something
> pkg_delete: p5-something cant be uninstalled because: "somescript.pl uses
> this module, for the love of everything good do not delete it"
>
> Is something like this already implemented,

No, although I agree it's a good idea.

You can create a +REQUIRED_BY file in that port's /var/db/pkg directory 
that names something else that is already installed on the system, but 
you can't do user-defined strings.

> or does anyone have suggestions to where I might begin if I want to make this ?

/usr/src/usr.sbin/pkg_install/delete


hth,

Doug

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