what does you think of fink?

Emiel Kollof coolvibe at hackerheaven.org
Sun Jan 4 09:53:34 PST 2004


* Geiregat Jonas (eniac at xxxxxxxxxx) wrote:

> >DF could probably even create a more memorable name than 'pkgsrc'.
> 
> Why not use pkgsrc from pkgsrc.org , why would we want to start our own 
> packaging system derived from pkgsrc ?

Because dragonfly has a whole different set of goals than pkgsrc has wrt
to packaging and installing 3rd party software. You come here to praise
pkgsrc, while many of use have used it (you're not telling us something
we don't know yet), and it is indeed yet another ports system.

Which doesn't mean we can't cherry-pick ideas from it. The support for
multiple versions is worthy of examination. Also OpenBSD's port system
has features that might be explored, like the flavour system and building
in a fake root so the whole thing gets packaged prior to installing.

The bottom line: the whole ports system is a hack that snowballed in 
all kinds of directions, and DragonFly wants to get rid of it. It's why 
Matt and others are willing to invest so much time in changing the whole 
VFS enchilada.

Read the goals of the packaging system on the dragonflybsd website
again, and then think objectively about if pkgsrc would fit. It doesn't.

We're not reinventing the wheel. We're just making better ones that fit
our carriage better. Why should we run on wooden wheels when we can make
better chrome-plated wheels with good tires made of lightweight material
that will last a hundred times longer?

Cheers,
Emiel
-- 





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