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Date:      Wed, 06 Sep 2006 01:19:21 -0700
From:      "Bill Blue" <bblue@netoldies.com>
To:        "Doug Barton" <dougb@freebsd.org>
Cc:        freebsd-ports@freebsd.org
Subject:   Re: portmaster deletes failed ports
Message-ID:  <op.tff6qjqvzq5pz4@sovaio.netoldies.com>
In-Reply-To: <44FDAF66.7090701@FreeBSD.org>
References:  <44FC4303.4050600@gmail.com> <200609042118.09134.list-freebsd-2004@morbius.sent.com> <44FC9527.6000802@gmail.com> <200609050048.57718.list-freebsd-2004@morbius.sent.com> <20060905104831.GF89080@leia.lambermont.dyndns.org> <44FDAF66.7090701@FreeBSD.org>

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On Tue, 05 Sep 2006 10:09:58 -0700, Doug Barton <dougb@FreeBSD.org> wrote:

> Hans Lambermont wrote:
>> RW wrote:
>>
>> ...
>>> I don't use portmaster myself, but I just took a look at the script and,
>>> unless I'm missing something, it does appear that this feature is missing
>>> from portmaster. There an option to create backup packages, but nothing to
>>> automatically restore the previous version if the install fails.
>>
>> I can confirm this. The auto-restore-backup would be a nice feature.
>> Doug ?  ;-)
>
> I'm extremely reluctant to start trying to think for the user. Down that
> path lies madness.

True enough.  But couldn't you anticipate the user a bit?

On Tue, 05 Sep 2006 14:47:03 -0700, Doug Barton <dougb@FreeBSD.org> wrote:

>> The problem is that if unattended, you will not know if the port was
>> deleted especially if you have a lot of output.
>I should have added in my previous reply that your statement above is not
> accurate. If the install fails, that invocation of portmaster will fail,
> which will cause all/any parent portmaster processes above it to fail as
> well. Thus, in the event that a port fails to install, the user will be
> notified of it immediately, and no further actions will be taken.

Also true, but under those circumstances what is the user to do?

If portmaster could detect ( as a result of errors that cause it to stop ) what the likely cause might be, couldn't it advise the user what to try?

I could be wrong, but it seems as though what is causing at least some of the deletions, is the /var/db/pkg database/fields not being accurate to the system, which can happen for a variety of reasons.  Should portmaster notice this type of discrepancy, couldn't it suggest to the user that running 'pkgdb -F' or equivalent would be a really good idea before continuing?

Is the addition of a portmaster -resume option a possibility after whatever problem caused the stop had been fixed?  Running from scratch each time, even in unattended mode, still means you have to wade through config screens over and over.

It's not a big deal for the seasoned FreeBSD admin, but there's a lot of us that are relatively new to port and pkg management in general and may not yet understand the subtle differences between using portmaster vs three or four other methods of updating.

Portmaster seems to be the most thorough, albeit somewhat mysterious from lack of feedback.

Just MO.

--Bill




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