Still having trouble with package upgrades

[Andrew Gould]

On Wed, Mar 7, 2012 at 11:42 AM, David Jackson <djackson452 at gmail.com> wrote:
> On Wed, Mar 7, 2012 at 11:58 AM, Polytropon <freebsd at edvax.de> wrote:
>
>> David, allow me to add a few thoughts:
>>
>> On Wed, 7 Mar 2012 11:28:47 -0500, David Jackson wrote:
>> > As for compile options, the solution is simple, compile in all feature
>> > options and the most commonly used settings into the binary packages, for
>> > the standard i386 CPU.
>>
>> I think this can develop into a major problem in certain
>> countries where listening to MP3 is illegal. :-)
>>
>>
> You are talking about the codec.
>
> What Ubuntu seems to do is distribute these codecs as a seperate nonfree
> addon package which are then loaded by applications at run time. You see,
> options do not necessarily have to be compiled into programs, they can be
> loaded at libraries and then loaded by programs at run time if they are
> available.
>
> This is also a rare circumstance, and there are workaround as above.
>
>
>>
>> > If people want customisations then they can build
>> > the software for themselves.
>>
>> That's what they'll do anyway. :-)
>>
>>
> No, usually they do not. Few people except for hard core geeks want to mess
> around with compile options. most will use runtime configuration through a
> GUI which is faster.

This is irrelevant.  FreeBSD has these options because most of its
users are system administrators, developers or other types of geeks.
Serving these needs is a major part of what FreeBSD does.  That's why
we have the long standing motto: "FreeBSD - The power to serve".
People who don't want these things, and insist on fool-proof upgrades
will probably be happier running Windows, Mac OS X or some
distribution of Linux.  I've been around email lists long enough to
know that every operating system (MS Windows, Linux, etc) occasionally
has its update nightmares.

My advice to you is:
1. Define your needs.
2. Choose the best software to meet your needs.
3. Choose the best operating system to run the software.
4. Choose the best hardware to run the operating system.

If you've performed these steps out of order, you're unlikely to be happy.

Andrew