ports and dependency hell

[Grzegorz Junka]

On 08/02/2017 08:03, Julian Elischer wrote:
> On 8/2/17 3:17 am, Grzegorz Junka wrote:
>>
>> On 07/02/2017 18:03, Julian Elischer wrote:
>>> This is a serious post  on a serious issue that ports framework 
>>> people seem unaware of.
>>> (...)
>>>
>>> The call "It just works under linux, select the versions you want of 
>>> each package and type make" is often heard around the company. And 
>>> management is not totally deaf.
>>>
>>
>> Hi Julian,
>> I may not fully understand how it works but what prevents you from 
>> getting sources for the version you want and typing make in them, 
>> exactly the way you do it in Linux? It should pick up the versions of 
>> dependencies currently installed in the system and compile for them. 
>> Is it only when you want to use the ports infrastructure that poses a 
>> problem?
>
> Nothing stops me from doing that. It's just that means that the ports 
> infrastructure is useless and a complete waste of time right?
> I'm no ready to admit that, however I may just be in denial.
>
> also, downsides to doing that include:
>
> * not getting any FreeBSD related fixes (many packages don't work well 
> on FreeBSD without patches)
> * not being able to play nice with software installed by packages
> * having a hard time installing FreeBSD specific software that is 
> delivered by ports and pkg as it's primary means of delivery.
> * having to manually chase package revisions. In areas where I have no 
> expertise.
>

Re 1, I believe you can still apply FreeBSD related patches after you 
have unpacked sources and before compiling them?

Is 2 and 4 from your list somehow easier on Linux than on FreeBSD?

As for 3, why would you need to compile them from sources, can't you 
just install them either from the official or a custom poudriere repository?

Grzegorz