Re: NetBSD 7.0 i386 mkdep fails

[Mayuresh <mayuresh%acm.org@localhost>]

On Thu, Jan 01, 1970 at 12:00:00AM +0000, Thor Lancelot Simon wrote:
> I don't think so; I think people have a limited amount of time available

That's exactly my point - less total volunteer time, a sign of eroded
community size.

> to answer very basic questions or questions that seem to arise from doing
> simple tasks in unusual ways, or not reading the documentation.  And I, for

Wishful thinking... I am talking about a DOCUMENTED procedure which I have
been using for at least 6 years. I have no reason to believe that it is
unusual going by the way it is documented and the fact that it has always
worked for me that I assumed it always works for others as well.

Precisely, it's here and didn't deviate even a bit from it:
https://www.netbsd.org/docs/guide/en/chap-kernel.html#chap-kernel-building-manually

> one, will seldom respond to a problem report of any kind which lacks a
> full and useful set of details.  The report above is almost useless: what
> _exactly_ and fully did you do, under exactly what conditions, and what
> exactly and entirely happened?

If you think above link is official documentation, a NetBSD expert would
never have so much difficulty understanding what one is talking about.

> I can't think of any documented procedure that approximates what you

Well, so you mean above link is NOT an official NetBSD document.

> describe above.  It's certainly not how to build the system; to do that,
> you're supposed to use build.sh.  So I can't even tell what software you

Then why on earth does the document have the procedure that I followed?

> were trying to build, never mind what directory you were in when you typed
> "make depend" (or was it "mkdep" as in the message subject?) -- was it
> NetBSD itself, or something else?  I don't know your path, so I don't
> know what compiler or version of make you were using, etc.

You probably did not read the subject and probably are not sure which
mailing list you are reading. On netbsd-users list with subject line
saying NetBSD i386 I don't find additional need to explain that I am
talking about NetBSD.

You probably did not read the post either. I have posted the compiler
details as well as the error stems from compiler. And I assumed that make
depends is a standard way only because it is on "standard"documentation of
NetBSD.

And mkdep in the subject line is not my creation either. That is what the
NetBSD's error message text says.

> I think it's fair to say that everyone here wants to help, but we have
> limited time.  Low-quality problem reports take a lot of time to handle,
> and eventually people get fatigued or busy and stop responding.  If you
> make your problem reports detailed, complete, and precise, I think you are
> much more likely to receive helpful responses quickly.

What has happened to several problem reports with all the details in the
world that are lying in open state?

I am not blaming anybody here. My only observation was (and you only seem
to agree) people have less time to look into issues and help. Let's face
it instead of passing on the blame on mail contents without reading them.


Mayuresh.