Date: Sun, 04 Apr 1999 22:43:35 -0700 From: bmah@CA.Sandia.GOV (Bruce A. Mah) To: Michael Haro <mharo@area51.fremont.ca.us> Cc: Sue Blake <sue@welearn.com.au>, freebsd-ports@FreeBSD.ORG Subject: Re: What do you think? Message-ID: <199904050543.WAA19279@stennis.ca.sandia.gov> In-Reply-To: Your message of "Sat, 03 Apr 1999 18:15:58 PST." <19990403181558.A91593@patrol.area51.fremont.ca.us>
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--==_Exmh_-1392705644P Content-Type: text/plain If memory serves me right, Michael Haro wrote: > On Sun, Apr 04, 1999 at 11:52:40AM +1000, Sue Blake wrote: > > On Sat, Apr 03, 1999 at 05:14:11PM -0800, Michael Haro wrote: > > > What do you think about creating some sort of variable in the > > > Makefile like NEXT_VERSION or something which contains either a > > > regular expression or printf like format string so that a script > > > can go through the ports and check for new versions. [request for clarifications] > My idea was actually to help the ports maintainers know when a new version > of the source for a program they are responsible for is out. As someone who maintains several ports, my first reaction is that while automating newer version detection is neat, it's not clear how useful it'd be. A *newer* version isn't necessarily a *better* one, and there's going to be some human judgement involved to decide what the right thing to do is. Look at ports such as tcl or gtk, which have (or had) multiple versions lying around the ports tree, or the localized versions of various ports. What if the distfiles move? What if they change without changing version numbers (vnc did this several times)? Are you sure you can even determine what's "newer" with a regexp match against the version number (as a hint, pkg_version tries, but it doesn't always succeed)? (I don't meant to mock your idea...I'm just pointing out some of the subtle difficulties involved, many of which I ran into while writing pkg_version.) For me, I consider it part of my "job" as a port maintainer to have at least a vague idea of what's happening in terms of continuing development for that piece of software, whether it be by reading the appropriate mailing list or by polling the appropriate Web pages every so often. Additionally, if I *do* miss a useful update, a fellow user is bound to point this out pretty quickly. > If you are looking for a utility to tell you if there is a newer version > of a port already in existance than the version you have installed, take > a look at the sysutils/pkg_version port. Thanks for the reference...this reminds me that I have a whole pile of submitted patches for pkg_version that I need to wade through... :-) Cheers, Bruce. --==_Exmh_-1392705644P Content-Type: application/pgp-signature -----BEGIN PGP MESSAGE----- Version: 2.6.2 iQCVAwUBNwhNhqjOOi0j7CY9AQEABgP+I4NcP2HdUshtipnsZuxImXRfhnhk23GT +/xjpy+7G0+CxPfNaE6JJ5uPwnHXB3CP2W99B25WYLcrAS0+SOEcr4Zk5twt25RG f8oVSMA7VJMcylQDNu/ZO/C1xuzlWa9m7w0fkIGvNxqw2opwDOBnvLm/rJsIFlTR BErscjpA5kM= =5IL2 -----END PGP MESSAGE----- --==_Exmh_-1392705644P-- To Unsubscribe: send mail to majordomo@FreeBSD.org with "unsubscribe freebsd-ports" in the body of the message
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