Synth and circular dependencies

[Thomas Mueller]

> > I can run "synth status ..." on desired packages to see before running if the options are compatible.
        
> My 2 cents worth: the port maintainers usually do a good job of
> choosing sensible default options. I would just move everything out of
> /var/db/ports/ and see what a "synth upgrade-system" comes back with.
> My LiveSystem-make.conf only contains a handful of lines where I
> disagree with the port maintainers' choices.

> Cheers.

> Jonathan Chen <jonc at chen.org.nz>

I could start from scratch on the options but not deleting packages already installed.

But it seems more cumbersome with "make PORT_DBDIR=... showconfig" than with "make show-options" and "make show depends-options" in NetBSD with pkgsrc.  Or maybe I'm spoiled?

Does synth look for options in /etc/make.conf, or only in /usr/local/etc/synth/LiveSystem-make.conf ?

>From "man synth"

     Port options directory    This is the directory where all the selected
                               options for ports are cached.  The initial
                               value comes from a system scan, so chances are
                               it has the correct value. However, if the user
                               would like a separate configuration area for
                               port options, they would create the new direc-
                               tory and set this value accordingly (but the
                               user would have to ensure the new location is
                               passed to the port when configuring port
                               options later in that case).

Do the options have to be in /var/db/ports format, which I want to avoid at all cost?  Or is the LiveSystem-make.conf and /etc/make.conf good enough?

Just to see what would happen, I don't think I need to run "synth upgrade-system".  "synth status" might be good enough.

Tom