portsnap, excluding parts of the ports tree

[Lowell Gilbert]

"F. Even - fbsd-questions" <freebsdlists at elitists.org> writes:

> I know I can run "portsnap extract sysutils/portupgrade" ...or
> something to that effect....but that will not "register" say for a
> "portsnap update" after a new "portsnap fetch".  This is what I will
> get for an error if I try that:
> 
> [root at gv:/usr/ports]$ portsnap update
> /usr/ports was not created by portsnap.
> You must run 'portsnap extract' before running 'portsnap update'.
> 
> ...is there any way I can only maintain a small portion of the ports
> tree while still using portsnap (or should I not bother and just use
> cvsup)?  I'd like to keep the parts of the ports collection around
> that I use, but not all of it...as this box has space issues.

Both portsnap and cvsup can refuse specified parts of the ports tree.
In both cases, though, proper behaviour is only guaranteed if you have
a full ports tree.  Generally, you can work around these if you know
what you're doing, but it will be tricky for naive users.