On Sun, Apr 08, 2001 at 01:26:18AM -0500, Ruibiao Qiu wrote:
> Hi all
> 
> I am proposing to add a package make variable.  The reasons are as follows:
> 
> "update" target is a great thing in our package system.  I think it is a big
> advantage over the FreeBSD port system.  However, sometimes, when I do "make
> update", it triggers updates of a lot of other dependent packages.  For
> example, "make update" for libaudiofile makes my machine update Gnome, KDE
> and many other big packages that use them, some of them I just updated before
> I update libaudiofile.  I do want to get them all updated, but this
> repeating wastes a lot of time.  
> 
> So, I think it would be a time saver if we can have something that indicates
> the depth of a package in the package dependency tree.  We can have a variable
> DEPENDENCY_TREE_LEVEL (or DEPTREE_DEPTH or UPDATE_PRIORITY), which is defined
> as 0 if it does not depend on other package (or at level 0 of the dependency
> tree), and as [min(DEPENDENCY_TREE_LEVEL of its depended packages) + 1] if
> there are depended packages.
> 
> So, if we have a bunch of packages, e.g. when the monthly package update email
> from Alistair, we can update the packages according to this variable.  That
> is, always update the packages with lowest DEPENDENCY_TREE_LEVEL value first.
> This will avoid most unnecessary repeats.  

I'm sorry that I haven't had time to address the issues you bring up
here (and it seems like an interesting idea), but I would definitely
say that relying upon me to send the monthly changes mail in a timely
manner is not a very good idea.  A view of the archives will show that
it has occasionally taken me until the 22nd of the following month to
send the mail out, and that wouldn't be good for anyone.

My wife tries to insist that I obtain a real life from somewhere, but
what does she know? My children can almost remember who I am...
 
Regards,
Alistair