Alistair Crooks <agc@pkgsrc.org> wrote on Wed, 19 Sep 2001
at 00:47:31 +0200 in <20010919004731.B29672@smaug.fh-regensburg.de>:

> The old practice of copying mk.conf.defaults into /etc/mk.conf,
> in-place editing, and then testing has now changed, although it
> will still work.
> 
> Now a new file called pkgsrc/mk/bsd.pkg.defaults.mk is sourced
> before /etc/mk.conf, and any default values for pkgsrc will be
> set. It is now only necessary to set values in /etc/mk.conf which
> differ from the default.

Just as we ship with a now-empty rc.conf file that makes
it clear that defaults are read from /etc/defaults/rc.conf,
is there a reason we do not continue to ship an mk.conf.example file
like:

--- /dev/null	Mon Dec  3 10:35:57 2001
+++ mk.conf.example	Mon Dec  3 16:36:20 2001
@@ -0,0 +1,9 @@
+#	$NetBSD$
+#
+# This file may be used to override defaults set in the pkgsrc
+# tree, in ${PKGSRCROOT}/mk/bsd.pkg.defaults.mk.
+#
+# bsd.pkg.defaults.mk is sourced after mk.conf is read, and
+# it sets variables with =?, so they may be overriden here.
+#
+# Add local overrides below

While this is not strictly necessary, this would help to reduce
confusion for folks who are expecting mk.conf.example to provide
a reference for defaults.

Thanks.

--jhawk

p.s.: Whatever is done, it would be best if pkgsrc/README were clear on it.