Date: Fri, 5 Oct 2012 22:01:45 -0700 From: Doug Hardie <bc979@lafn.org> To: FreeBSD-PORTS <freebsd-ports@freebsd.org> Subject: New Port Options Message-ID: <6B7F31C1-0A5C-4B65-AC5B-BCCE21817692@lafn.org>
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I just converted a port over to the new options structure and have a few =
observations. I have not been involved in any of the discussions about =
the structure as I didn't have the time to get involved. However, a =
couple things came to mind during the process:
1. The Port handbook is actually quite good in the information it =
provides. However, it does presume that you know a few things about the =
port structure that are probably common knowledge to anyone involved =
with it, but not to those of us who just "use" it. The first update I =
made to the Makefile cause a slew of make errors that were pretty much =
useless. They meant nothing to me. My first thought was that somehow I =
had munged one of the includes and managed to include some random file =
rather than the right one.
My second idea was that I had typed the option names wrong, but that =
didn't seem to fit with the error messages either. After quite a while =
of reading the handbook, I noticed that in the PORT_OPTIONS clause you =
have to precede the option name with a M. That is not at all obvious =
and is easily missed. Why an M is also baffling. I am sure there is a =
reason other then it just won't work otherwise.
2. The syntax for a conditional expression for an option that is =
selected is completely different from that for an option that is not =
selected. That is just weird. The use of {} for one and () for the =
other again must have some reason other than it just won't work =
otherwise. No clue is given in the handbook.
3. The examples are a bit difficult to distinguish between {} and (). =
I had to look quite a few times before I figured that out.
4. The handbook shows for submitting a change to a port the use of a =
regular diff. My recollection is that the last time a unified diff was =
requested so that things like the file names show.
I only maintain one port so the effort to make the changes would have =
been quite minor for additional ports. Its really not that big a change =
from the maintainer's point of view.=
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