On Sunday 09 December 2007 00:12:57 Predrag Punosevac wrote: > Dear All, > I noticed significant number of very important desktop related > applications ported for OpenBSD > (TeXLive, HPLIP, Gutenprint, PJSIP among others) > Some of these applications are already in ports for 4.2 but not among > pre-compiled binary packages (I personally prefer to use binaries in > particularly on my older machines as strongly advised in FAQ). > > How many release cycles does usually take for an application to move > from ports tree to pre-compiled package?
You are asking lots of different questions in one email... If a port has made its way into -current, it will be there when -current turns into the next -release version. Thus all the new additions in 4.2-current will be in 4.3. However, not all software packages in the ports collection can be distributed, such as Java, 'till Sun changes its license. Somewhere around 150 - 200 ports can't be distributed as bonary packages because of license issues. > > I was also wondering if you direct me to some kind documentation that > would explain me how can I use binary package which I compiled on one > machine on another machine using the same pack_add utility I use when I > add binary packages from the mirror-sites. That should be > very easy to do. The point is that I do not want to mix packages and > ports (as adviced) but some ports are really useful and it is really > tantalizing for me to wait for them. If you've made Java, you have a package which you could then move to some other system PROVIDED its the same version of OpenBSD. The reason why the faq says not to mix things is that huge numbers of folks don't "get" the complexities of how packages interact with the OS, mix things up horribly, and then squeal for help when things don't work. Having a package expect one version of libc when the system has a later version doesn't work so well. Given that lots of people don't understand this, such questions wind up being a drain on everyone. > > I would like to use above as an exercise and try to port a package or > two for OpenBSD. There is a very small application called menu maker > which is not ported for OpenBSD. I thought it could be useful. It > enables you to fill in menu on your favorite window manager (in my case > Openbox) as simple as > > mmaker openbox Remember to use -current for any port you make. > > here is the link from FreeBSD ports tree > http://www.freebsd.org/cgi/url.cgi?ports/deskutils/menumaker/pkg-descr. > > I know that fill in menu for most of you in your favorite Window Manager > is 5 minute job. It also takes me 5 minutes to fill in the OpenBox menu > by hand with my applications but it usually takes me couple iterations > and readings through /var/db/pkg to recall all installed packages. I > just thought that it could be a good exercise for me. > > If there is something simple that you think could be handled by an > enthusiastic OpenBSD nOOb (converting from FreeBSD) with formal > education in mathematics (my area of expertise is Dynamical Systems > including bits of Ergodic theory) I am ready for suggestions. First, play with OpenBSD. Read the FAQ. Read the FAQ again--its really very good, and is evolving and getting better all the time. Use the mailing list archives at marc.info to read about problems that others have had in the past. Most of the questions I've had, actually nearly all of them have been answered by searching there. Remember that the man pages are excellent. Start reading code, and every time you see a function that you don't understand, bring the man page up. OpenBSD documentation is really really good--I'd venture to say that its the best documented OS out today. Because of this, you really need to read up on things before asking questions. As you become more familiar you'll see things that you want to fix. > > > I also have a question to about HPLIP. I noticed following messages on > Linux Printing web-site > > hplip/hpijs since 2.7.10 IS NOT OPEN SOFTWARE anymore. > > It downloads BINARY LIBRARIES and FIRMWARE automatically. > > $ strings * | more > $ pwd > /usr/share/hplip/prnt/plugins > $ ll > total 136 > lrwxrwxrwx 1 root rick 42 Nov 15 13:09 lj.so -> > /usr/share/hplip/prnt/plugins/lj-x86_64.so > -r-xr-xr-x 1 root rick 56851 Sep 19 13:49 lj-x86_32.so > -r--r--r-- 1 root rick 70337 Sep 19 13:49 lj-x86_64.so > $ strings * | grep JBIG > JBIG-KIT 1.6 -- Markus Kuhn -- $Id: jbig.c,v 1.1 2007/08/23 16:44:50 > raghothamac Exp $ > > This is a violation of the GPL rules... no source even though > > > /* > * Portable Free JBIG image compression library > * > * Markus Kuhn -- [www.cl.cam.ac.uk <http://www.cl.cam.ac.uk/%7Emgk25/>] > * > * Id: jbig.c,v 1.22 2004-06-11 15:17:06+01 mgk25 Exp $ > * $Id: jbig.c,v 1.4 2004/06/12 02:33:05 rick Exp $ > * > * This module implements a portable standard C encoder and decoder > * using the JBIG lossless bi-level image compression algorithm as > * specified in International Standard ISO 11544:1993 or equivalently > * as specified in ITU-T Recommendation T.82. See the file jbig.doc > * for usage instructions and application examples. > * > * This program is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify > * it under the terms of the GNU General Public License as published by > * the Free Software Foundation; either version 2 of the License, or > * (at your option) any later version. > > > > Is there are any kind of security recommendations regarding HPLIP > software. I am also personally familiar with few scanners that > do require firmware files to work with sane-backhands. Any > recommendations about it? > > What is the best practice for installing third party software on the top > of OpenBSD having in mind that the packages are not scrutinized for > security as OpenBSD operating system. > > I read somewhere that the best thing would be to install all packages in > regular user mode. That is very possible for me as I am mostly desktop > user. Any suggestion about enhancing security of the default > installation apart of the standard things which I already use (editing > fstab file and making some directories only readable, changing flags on > major files, disabling root ssh and inetd daemon which I do not need? > > Kind Regards to Everyone, > > Predrag Punosevac
