Date: Sat, 18 Jul 1998 05:15:21 -0400 (EDT) From: Chuck Robey <chuckr@glue.umd.edu> To: Sue Blake <sue@welearn.com.au> Cc: freebsd-ports@FreeBSD.ORG Subject: Re: questions about packages Message-ID: <Pine.BSF.3.96.980718050959.18866M-100000@localhost> In-Reply-To: <19980718171423.58388@welearn.com.au>
next in thread | previous in thread | raw e-mail | index | archive | help
On Sat, 18 Jul 1998, Sue Blake wrote: > I'm trying to fathom how packages work and there's a few things I can't > find in the documentation, or can't recognise if they're there. > Since this is in reference to a package for totally clueless newbies > I have no control over installation except from within the package itself. > > Here's the two questions I posted to -questions yesterday with little > result. An obvious third question is: How should one go about finding > out this kind of info? > > > Where does a package look to find the other packages it needs > that are not yet installed? > > How does it distinguish between another package that should be > installed if available, and a package that must be installed > before this one will install? Packages will check dependencies, but won't automatically go out, fetch, and install them. They'll just report missing pieces to the screen as a reasonably readable error message, and abort the package installation. Probably most people using packages are doing it from the cdrom, so that just means doing an additional pkg_add with the name reported from the initial pkg_add, then repeating the initial pkg_add. It's the _ports_ that automatically fetch, build, and install dependencies. Both ports and packages install a directory in /usr/db/pkg with the name of the application, and that directory has the information needed later to do an uninstall. One can always (if you want) use pkg_info to pre-check for dependencies. Pkg_info won't install anything, so it's safe to use. > > > Please don't send me to the sources! I'm just a newbie with attitude. > No doubt I will have more questions, but it's hard to get them into > words while everything is so unfamiliar. > > > -- > > Regards, > -*Sue*- > > > To Unsubscribe: send mail to majordomo@FreeBSD.org > with "unsubscribe freebsd-ports" in the body of the message > > ----------------------------+----------------------------------------------- Chuck Robey | Interests include any kind of voice or data chuckr@glue.umd.edu | communications topic, C programming, and Unix. 213 Lakeside Drive Apt T-1 | Greenbelt, MD 20770 | I run Journey2 and picnic (FreeBSD-current) (301) 220-2114 | and jaunt (NetBSD). ----------------------------+----------------------------------------------- To Unsubscribe: send mail to majordomo@FreeBSD.org with "unsubscribe freebsd-ports" in the body of the message
Want to link to this message? Use this URL: <https://mail-archive.FreeBSD.org/cgi/mid.cgi?Pine.BSF.3.96.980718050959.18866M-100000>