Re: How to automatically update dependencies when building a package?

["Thomas Mueller" <mueller6724%bellsouth.net@localhost>]

I tried early yesterday morning what I had suggested for making links-gui build 
in NetBSD-pkgsrc, but hit snags.

I tried "make update", but still pkgsrc refused to upgrade the already-built 
png-1.5.1, which would replace png-1.4.5.

I managed to force this by going into the png subdirectory and typing "make 
replace", but links-gui still refused to build because it supposedly needed to 
upgrade x11-links from 0.63 to 0.64, even though x11-links was in the x11-links 
subdirectory.  I then tried explicitly to update x11-links, but pkgsrc 
mysteriously refused.

I even changed REINSTALL ?= NO to REINSTALL=YES in 
/usr/pkgsrc/mk/bsd.pkg.update.mk, but pkgsrc still refused to upgrade x11-links 
0.63 even though x11-links was right there.

So now I am at an impasse.  I figure there will be snags if I try to install 
other big packages.

I could do "cvs update -dP" from /usr/pkgsrc and then run pkg_rolling-replace.

I use pkgsrc only in NetBSD, had formerly wanted to try pkgsrc in Linux.

Only Linux package manager I have experience with is Slackware pkgtools, which 
knows nothing about dependencies.  I am looking for better, getting ideas from 
distrowatch.com .

With FreeBSD ports, when one builds a port, comparable to what is called a 
package in NetBSD pkgsrc, already-installed dependencies are automatically 
upgraded when the already-installed version is less than the minimum version 
number requuired.  There is nothing comparable to osabi or to x11-links.

I saw that DragonFly pkgsrc howto, but that does not resolve the impasse.

Tom