Newbie question - package versions in FreeBSD 5.1

[Matthew Seaman]

On Wed, Oct 01, 2003 at 01:53:35PM +0100, Darren Phillips wrote:
> Sorry for the dumb-sounding question - is having multiple package versions installed in 5.1 going to burn me ?
> 
> I (think I) understand the install process but not the consequences. How do all the versions coexist ?
> eg. install another linux base package.

Most of the time, this appears to work, but it's not at all desirable.
Generally, if you install a more recent version of a package you've
already installed, then the files from the newer package just
overwrite the files from the older one.

According to pkg_info(1) you'll have both packages installed, but
that's not really the case.  The best way to sort out this sort of
problem is to pkg_delete both versions of the port, and then
re-install the version that you actually want.

In order to avoid getting into this situation in the first place, use
portupgrade(1) and friends to manage your installed ports.

While that's a good way of handling multiple installations of the same
port (even if they are different revisions), it doesn't really help
when you have two different ports that both lay claim to the same
files.  While port maintainers go to great lengths to make their ports
co-exist happily with any other ports, sometimes it just isn't
possible.  There is a (relatively) new 'CONFLICTS' variable in the
port Makefiles which should go a long way towards preventing such
problems.  Unfortunately, use of the CONFLICTS variable is nowhere
near ubiquitous yet.

In the specific case of the various linux_base ports you ask about:

    /usr/ports/emulators:% foreach m (linux_base*/Makefile)
    foreach? echo $m
    foreach? make -f $m -V CONFLICTS
    foreach? end
    linux_base-6/Makefile
    linux_base-*
    linux_base-8/Makefile
    linux_base-*
    linux_base-debian/Makefile
    linux_base-*
    linux_base/Makefile
    linux_base-*

ie. all of the different linux_base ports conflict with each other. So
the short answer to your question is "yes".

	Cheers,

	Matthew

-- 
Dr Matthew J Seaman MA, D.Phil.                       26 The Paddocks
                                                      Savill Way
PGP: http://www.infracaninophile.co.uk/pgpkey         Marlow
Tel: +44 1628 476614                                  Bucks., SL7 1TH UK
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