Bill Campbell wrote to [EMAIL PROTECTED]:
When I tried installing cups on FreeBSD 4.8 today, the install balked part
way through saying that a file couldn't be downloaded, a Samsung file from
www.linuxprinting.org. It turns out that that file was just updated today
so the time and checksum don't match what's in the ports database.
I manually downloaded the file from ftp.freebsd.org which still had the
older version, and the build is now going.
My main question, being a freebsd newbie, is what's the accepted procedure
for dealing with things like this?
Here's what I'd suggest for ports bugs on ports you don't maintain. This
checklist grew out of years of port use, port maintainership, and
reading the documentation others have written. So, it's my own, and not
my own at all. IMHO, YMMV, IANAL, FWIW, AFAIC, TIOLI. It seems to work,
though. :-)
1. Ensure your ports collection is up to date. The distinfo may already
be up to date.
2. Let the fetch process fetch the updated version, and ignore the
checksum with make NO_CHECKSUM=yes. Beware the risk to integrity
and security when using this option; verify the contents of the
distfile yourself if you're paranoid. This will get you up and
running.
3. Check for an recently opened PR for the port you're building, to see
if a fix might be in progress.
4. Verify that the distfile version you have downloaded is indeed
updated, builds correctly, and is really the correct version of the
distfile, and not some transient mishap from the master sites.
Consider sending an email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] if you're unsure of
how to proceed, based on what you've observed. CC the MAINTAINER of
the port if you do this.
5. Email the MAINTAINER of the port to point out your findings, and
possibly include a patch. If the maintainer is [EMAIL PROTECTED],
consider assuming maintainership of the port if you are up to the
task. Otherwise, submit your own PR.
6. Give the maintainer time to update the port. If you don't receive a
response after a while (at *least* a week, longer in the summer
months), you might try another polite reminder, wait another week,
and then submit your own PR, indicating that the maintainer seems to
be unresponsive.
7. Give the ports committers time to commit the change. Urgent fixes are
usually committed within a couple of days. Less urgent fixes,
sometimes longer. If it remains uncommitted for a while, you might
consider sending a message to [EMAIL PROTECTED] and request that a
committer look at your PR.
8. Once committed, give yourself a pat on the back for helping the
project in one small but important way.
If you end up submitting a PR, sending a patch will drastically improve
the response time of the committers/maintainer. If you're not sure how
to do this, ask [EMAIL PROTECTED] Someone will help you with your
particular problem. The general idea is to reduce the load on the
committers.
I think the above is a rather methodical approach... you might skip a
step or two, depending on the circumstances. Namely, if you don't have
time/expertise to track down the bug yourself, at least email someone.
:-)
Hope this helps,
- Ryan
--
Ryan Thompson [EMAIL PROTECTED]
SaskNow Technologies - http://www.sasknow.com
901-1st Avenue North - Saskatoon, SK - S7K 1Y4
Tel: 306-664-3600 Fax: 306-244-7037 Saskatoon
Toll-Free: 877-727-5669 (877-SASKNOW) North America
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