On Friday 17 October 2008, Rod Whitworth wrote: > I had postfix (stable, no flavors) from 4.3 on there and I had built > a snapshot version from ports for 4.4. and the pkg_add said it could > not find an update for postfix. > > When I built the 4.4 postfix stable version it updated but I really > expected that it would have offered me the snapshot version that was > there all along. > > Is there no way to choose between the two? What criteria are in play > in such a case?
Hi Rod, Your use of the terms "stable" and "snapshot" above are not particularly clear, or more likely, I'm just reading it wrong. Both the -STABLE and -RELEASE trees will not officially exist (publicly) until the date of the release (Nov 1). What you have on the CD's is of course, the -RELEASE tree. Mixing things from one "snapshot" of the many provided during the development cycle (i.e. the continual builds of the -CURRENT tree) with the RELEASE (as provided on the official CD) is not a good idea. If any last minute bug fixes to the ports/packages systems were committed prior to RELEASE, they could potentially break any of the previously built "snapshot" packages. Attempting to install packages created with an older version of the ports/packages system on a newer OS version can make a mess of the system. Equally, attempting to install packages created with a newer version of the ports/packages system on an older OS version can also cause a real mess. Though I've got my "Shinny shinny shinny" new 4.4 disks sitting right here, I haven't gotten to installing it yet. --Possibly the new ports/packages system in 4.4 now intentionally prevents the first way of making a real mess? As for the second way of making a real mess... Some idiot fumble fingered a cvs update on a newly installed box, and attempted to build/install -CURRENT ports/packages, on a box running 4.3 -RELEASE. The result was the ports/packages "mysteriously" installed incorrectly and stuffed up the packages database. Said idiot did not even realize his mistake, and went so far as to file a bug report about the incorrect installation locations. (sigh) The idiot who filed the ports/5837 bug was me. Even if the developers did idiot-proof the first way of making a real mess by preventing the installation of old packages on a newer OS, there's always an improved idiot out there who will find a way to totally screw things up. Kind Regards, JCR
