portmaster -af fails due to dead port - HELP

[Polytropon]

On Fri, 3 Jul 2015 10:13:24 -0400, kpneal at pobox.com wrote:
> On Thu, Jul 02, 2015 at 11:06:50PM -0400, William F. Dudley Jr. wrote:
> > need complicated right now, I need simple.  I just want to update the 
> > machine from
> > 8.4 to 9.3, update the packages, and then ignore it for a few weeks to 
> > months.  The reason
> > my ports are so out of date is because it's such a nightmare to keep 
> > them updated.
> > I hate working with ports and packages -- it's always a descent into 
> > dependency hell.
> 
> Use pkg with binary packages. Life is much easier. I used to use portmaster,
> but with pkg and binary packages I don't see a need anymore.

Fully agree. When you do not need custom compile-time options
(or only need them in very few cases), using pkg is the way
to go. It's so easy to install software and keep it updated.
No "dependency hell" as sometimes seen on Linux where an update
that went wrong could render your whole (!) system unusable...

Sometimes, starting from scratch is far easier than doing the
update cycle(s). An OS re-installation is quickly done, and
armed with a list of your "top priority software", you can
have pkg install everything that is needed. It will install
the current version, and you'll be able to binarily update
them whenever you wish.

Similarly, freebsd-update works excellently for updating the
OS without requiring to build from source.

Using source today is only required for corner cases, for
example when you need to set compile-time options for your
ports or want to follow the -HEAD development branch of the
operating system.

Regarding "ports and/or packages": As it has been mentioned,
ports and packages are basically the same thing, and pkg is
the system's means to track what's installed on the system.
So even if you build from source, you're using pkg (because
first a package is built, then pkg installs that package
from its local source). It's important to understand that
simple fact.

So my suggestion and summary would be: Use pkg, start from
scratch, install what you need, and keep using pkg to update
your installed ports. And note that "ports" means "packages"
in this case. :-)


-- 
Polytropon
Magdeburg, Germany
Happy FreeBSD user since 4.0
Andra moi ennepe, Mousa, ...