Re: ANN: Availability of pkg(8)-capable pkgsrc

[John Marino <netbsd%marino.st@localhost>]

On 11/13/2016 02:06, Thomas Mueller wrote:
> I have some NetBSD installations, now idle pending update, following
> a crash that corrupted the GPT partition table, though I subsequently
> seem to have recovered all data.
>
> Can this pkg(8)-capable pkgsrc be used on an installed system with
> many packages, or do I need to clean everything first?

I haven't tested it and I wouldn't recommend it, but I think it would be 
possible to convert without cleaning first.  Your system would be rather 
nasty because everything that is previously installed will be without 
registration until they are rebuilt and reinstalled.

I would clear everything in /usr/pkg/* first or at least remove /usr/pkg 
from the PATH and choose a new localbase.

> Can synth be used in place of pkg_rolling-replace to update installed
> packages?

yes.
caveat 1) Synth hasn't been ported to pkgsrc yet.  There are a few 
challenges, the biggest being multi-version support.  If/when synth 
comes, it may be limited to one version of each MV type initially.

caveat 2) It's not synth handling the inline replacement.  Pkg(8) is 
doing it.  Synth provides the repository of package on which pkg(8) 
operates.  Synth will build/rebuild what is required, update the 
repository, then pkg(8) will handle the system updates seamlessly.

tldr; pkg_rolling-replace is a relic of the current "pkg" format which 
is unnecessary (and probably unsupported) with the "pkgng" format.


> Can I download through "git clone" rather than the master.zip, and
> would I update by "git pull"?  I could do that from either FreeBSD or
> NetBSD.

Of course.  I only use master.zip as an example because a clean system 
wouldn't have git already installed.  Using git would be preferred.

> I have substantial experience with pkg on FreeBSD, where I build
> packages through FreeBSD ports.
>
> I just looked in pkgtools and sysutils categories through the github
> web interface, and synth was not there.

Correct.  I spent an embarrassing number of days just getting pkg(8) to 
work pkgsrc.  I haven't even started work on Synth (the porting will not 
be trivial).  I was also observing how USERS would receive pkg(8).  If 
it's a dud then there's not to much point in continuing the synth work.

If you still have those FreeBSD boxes, I recommend that you use Synth 
there, if for no other reason than to become familiar with it.

John

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