On Wed, Oct 01, 2003 at 01:53:35PM +0100, Darren Phillips wrote: > Sorry for the dumb-sounding question - is having multiple package versions installed > in 5.1 going to burn me ? > > I (think I) understand the install process but not the consequences. How do all the > versions coexist ? > eg. install another linux base package.
Most of the time, this appears to work, but it's not at all desirable. Generally, if you install a more recent version of a package you've already installed, then the files from the newer package just overwrite the files from the older one. According to pkg_info(1) you'll have both packages installed, but that's not really the case. The best way to sort out this sort of problem is to pkg_delete both versions of the port, and then re-install the version that you actually want. In order to avoid getting into this situation in the first place, use portupgrade(1) and friends to manage your installed ports. While that's a good way of handling multiple installations of the same port (even if they are different revisions), it doesn't really help when you have two different ports that both lay claim to the same files. While port maintainers go to great lengths to make their ports co-exist happily with any other ports, sometimes it just isn't possible. There is a (relatively) new 'CONFLICTS' variable in the port Makefiles which should go a long way towards preventing such problems. Unfortunately, use of the CONFLICTS variable is nowhere near ubiquitous yet. In the specific case of the various linux_base ports you ask about: /usr/ports/emulators:% foreach m (linux_base*/Makefile) foreach? echo $m foreach? make -f $m -V CONFLICTS foreach? end linux_base-6/Makefile linux_base-* linux_base-8/Makefile linux_base-* linux_base-debian/Makefile linux_base-* linux_base/Makefile linux_base-* ie. all of the different linux_base ports conflict with each other. So the short answer to your question is "yes". Cheers, Matthew -- Dr Matthew J Seaman MA, D.Phil. 26 The Paddocks Savill Way PGP: http://www.infracaninophile.co.uk/pgpkey Marlow Tel: +44 1628 476614 Bucks., SL7 1TH UK
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