Q: Updating a port (math:asymptote)
Greetings. I would like to switch from Linux to FreeBSD, but am puzzled by the timeliness of the ports. In particular, I use a drawing program called asymptote quite heavily in my work. From the ports page I noticed that the ports version is approximately 14 months old: http://www.freebsd.org/cgi/ports.cgi?query=asymptote I tried to contact the maintainer via email, but got no response. What would be the correct procedure for trying to get that port updated? 1. Somehow get in contact with the maintainer. How? (I tried.) 2. Try to become a maintainer. How? 3. Something else? Thank you very much in advance for your responses. Jarmo ___ freebsd-questions@freebsd.org mailing list http://lists.freebsd.org/mailman/listinfo/freebsd-questions To unsubscribe, send any mail to freebsd-questions-unsubscr...@freebsd.org
Re: Q: Updating a port (math:asymptote)
On Fri, 2013-10-11 at 19:14 +0300, Jarmo Hurri wrote: I would like to switch from Linux to FreeBSD, but am puzzled by the timeliness of the ports. In particular, I use a drawing program called asymptote quite heavily in my work. From the ports page I noticed that the ports version is approximately 14 months old: I guess that if software should depend on many other software, you can't get latest software versions working on FreeBSD that easy, if at all. Have you tested Debian's FreeBSD port? Debian GNU/kFreeBSD perhaps does provide a more current user space. https://wiki.debian.org/Debian_GNU/kFreeBSD ___ freebsd-questions@freebsd.org mailing list http://lists.freebsd.org/mailman/listinfo/freebsd-questions To unsubscribe, send any mail to freebsd-questions-unsubscr...@freebsd.org
Re: Q: Updating a port (math:asymptote)
On Fri, 11 Oct 2013 19:14:48 +0300 Jarmo Hurri jarmo.hu...@syk.fi wrote: Greetings. I would like to switch from Linux to FreeBSD, but am puzzled by the timeliness of the ports. In particular, I use a drawing program called The extent to which any given port is kept up to date depends on the maintainer. asymptote quite heavily in my work. From the ports page I noticed that the ports version is approximately 14 months old: http://www.freebsd.org/cgi/ports.cgi?query=asymptote I tried to contact the maintainer via email, but got no response. What would be the correct procedure for trying to get that port updated? 1. Somehow get in contact with the maintainer. How? (I tried.) A non-responding maintainer may be for any number of reasons including having lost all interest, but sometimes they're just temporarily unavailable (on holiday, busy with other things ...) and will get back to it later. 2. Try to become a maintainer. How? Step one would be to try bringing the port up to date yourself, sometimes it is as easy as editing the Makefile, changing the version and running make makesum to update the checksums. Sometimes the patches need to be adjusted in which case much depends on how much patching was needed in the first place. In the case of asymptote it looks like the only patch is adjusting the path to exampledir in Makefile.in which ought to be pretty easy to handle. The porters handbook has a lot of useful information on what to do when things get tricky. If you succeed in bringing the port up to date then your problem is solved (you have an up to date version) and if you use send-pr to submit the changes to bring it up to date then there's a good chance that you'll solve the same problem for everyone else who may want it. 3. Something else? Wait for someone else to do it. FreeBSD is a volunteer project and the best way to make it better is to scratch your itches and contribute the result. -- Steve O'Hara-Smith st...@sohara.org ___ freebsd-questions@freebsd.org mailing list http://lists.freebsd.org/mailman/listinfo/freebsd-questions To unsubscribe, send any mail to freebsd-questions-unsubscr...@freebsd.org
Re: Q: Updating a port (math:asymptote)
Steve O'Hara-Smith st...@sohara.org writes: 2. Try to become a maintainer. How? Step one would be to try bringing the port up to date yourself, sometimes it is as easy as editing the Makefile, changing the version and running make makesum to update the checksums. Sometimes the patches need to be adjusted in which case much depends on how much patching was needed in the first place. In the case of asymptote it looks like the only patch is adjusting the path to exampledir in Makefile.in which ought to be pretty easy to handle. If you succeed in bringing the port up to date then your problem is solved (you have an up to date version) and if you use send-pr to submit the changes to bring it up to date then there's a good chance that you'll solve the same problem for everyone else who may want it. Sounds reasonable. I think I'll give this a try once 10.0 is officially out. FreeBSD is a volunteer project and the best way to make it better is to scratch your itches and contribute the result. It would be interesting to know how the number of volunteers has changed during the past couple of years. Thanks! Jarmo ___ freebsd-questions@freebsd.org mailing list http://lists.freebsd.org/mailman/listinfo/freebsd-questions To unsubscribe, send any mail to freebsd-questions-unsubscr...@freebsd.org
Re: Q: Updating a port (math:asymptote)
Ralf Mardorf ralf.mard...@alice-dsl.net writes: Have you tested Debian's FreeBSD port? Debian GNU/kFreeBSD perhaps does provide a more current user space. https://wiki.debian.org/Debian_GNU/kFreeBSD Hmm, I think I would prefer a distribution with a relatively large user base. The Wikipedia page also states that there are still major bugs in the system: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Debian_GNU/kFreeBSD Still, thanks for the tip. Jarmo ___ freebsd-questions@freebsd.org mailing list http://lists.freebsd.org/mailman/listinfo/freebsd-questions To unsubscribe, send any mail to freebsd-questions-unsubscr...@freebsd.org
