FreeBSD ports system: which branch?

[vaisarger]

Hi!

This is a question to FreeBSD gurus...

Many times, my Update-station is quiet (no lamp showing up), but command "pkg version -l '<' " tells me there are many packages to update. In that case I type

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portupgrade -R "package_name"

So I wonder, maybe ports are bundled with "CURRENT" branch and this is why Update-station doesn't see that update?


And, if so, how to determine which branch my ports have to track?



(BTW, If you all need, I wrote a script to check your system and, if you want, update:
https://sites.google.com/site/vaisarger ... bgportsman )

[ASX]

[quote="vaisarger"
Many times, my Update-station is quiet (no lamp showing up), but command "pkg version -l '<' " tells me there are many packages to update. In that case I type

Code: Select all

portupgrade -R "package_name"

So I wonder, maybe ports are bundled with "CURRENT" branch and this is why Update-station doesn't see that update?


And, if so, how to determine which branch my ports have to track?[/quote]

Actually GhostBSD rely on "quarterly" repositories. (this change was introduced upstream from FreeBSD in 10.2), therefore pkgs are not in sync with the head branch of ports.

Users that wish to use the port system (with quarterly repo pkgs) would need to use the equivalent quarterly branch of ports.

Alternatively you could switch your installation to use "Latest" FreeBSD pkgs repository and use the "head" port branch.

[ASX]

A quick note about portupgrade / portmaster: they are unreliable ("both based on the same garbage foundation"), as a FreeBSD developer told me about.

People wishes to build from ports should use "poudriere" or "synth". and build their own local repository.
I'm strongly in favour of "synth" for use on single system or few local systems.

[vaisarger]

Hi ASX!
Thanks for reply!

So, how can I set ports system to use the quarterly branch, and thus avoiding conflicts with UpdateStation?

Portmaster/portupgrade garbage??? Really?
I use those tools because they are suggested in the official FreeBSD online Ports/packages how-to

[vaisarger]

Is synth easy to use? (and, especially, is it officially supported?)

[ASX]

yes, synth is easy to use, provide you understand what it does:
- it build a local repo (tailored to your installed packages)
read the documentation here:
https://github.com/jrmarino/synth (scroll down ...)
https://forums.freebsd.org/threads/58080/#post-332663

about portupgrade/portmaster, yes, I know they are "offically suggested", and that is because there is some inertia at high floor in FreeBSD, as I understood all (or the vast majority) of ports maintainer think that synth / poudriere are a better choice compared to portmaster/portupgrade:
https://forums.freebsd.org/threads/58615/#post-335292
https://forums.freebsd.org/threads/58615/#post-335303
https://bugs.freebsd.org/bugzilla/show_ ... ?id=214679

Feel free to post more questions

about getting the quartely branch of ports:
- use "svnlite" tool

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svnlite checkout https://svnweb.freebsd.org/ports/branches/2016Q4/

and then, form time to time:

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svnlite update /usr/ports

You will have to repeat the above checkout for every new quarterly branch, every 3 months.

[vaisarger]

You were very precise in your reply, thank you very much!

Maybe one could launch "svnlite update /usr/ports" every time UpdateStation shows up!... If the branch is the same quarterly, you should not have any incoherence, shouldn't it?

[ASX]

packages from FreeBSD repository are built once per week, (with some exception for security updates), head port branch get updates continously evry day, GhostBSD packages are updated as needed.

And yes, provided that you use coherent sources (latest pkgs and head port branch, or quarterly pks and quarterly port branch) all should go well.

[vaisarger]

All right... all seems make sense now. Thank you.