On Fri, 24 Jun 2005 06:32:51 -0700 (PDT)
"Jeremy C. Reed" <reed@reedmedia.net> wrote:
> I don't see how this will consistently work. If you want to update a
> package and it requires new headers/libraries/features from a
> dependency package, then that dependency packages must be rebuilt.

No one is suggesting otherwise.

> And it doesn't make sense to reinstall the dependency package if not
> compatible with all the packages depending on it -- so they should all
> be removed.

The question is, do they all have to be removed before you start working
on any of them?  Certainly there will be situations where packages are
not useable after a dependency is rebuilt.  That's why I have been
saying that the pathological worst case may be as bad as now.  However,
there are cases where a dependent package can continue to function after
a dependent package is rebuilt and those cases will win under this
suggested scenario.

> Also, we (usually) don't want to reinstall a package when it is still
> installed, so we deinstall it first. And since other packages may
> depend on now missing functionality, we make sure they are deinstalled
> also.

Of course.  I don't think that anyone has suggested that delete should
happen after the install, just that it should happen immediately before
each package is installed rather than before any of them in the
dependency chain ae built.

> I have no problem with the removal of packages first. Using pkgsrc on
> production system like this would not work for me. I do use packages
> made from pkgsrc on production systems.

No matter what system we use, and especially under the current system,
it would be insane to build packages on production systems.  You have to
use a staging machine, chrooted directory or something that allows you
to build and test everything before going live.  I'm sure that some
people enjoy standing in front of their boss explaining why the servers
were down for a large part of a busy day but most of us like to avoid
such situations.  I'm sure you don't just remove half your packages on a
production system and just hope that everything will be rebuilt with no
problems.  Nothing that anyone is suggesting is going to change that.

-- 
D'Arcy J.M. Cain <darcy@NetBSD.org>
http://www.NetBSD.org/