Re: switch from i386 to AMD64 without a total rebuild?

On Wed, 20 Sep 2023 07:53:23 -0700, paul beard wrote:
> Thank you, that was how I read it. I will probably go with the superset of
> pkgs I have installed and see about house-cleaning later.

Another option is to have this list as a source for
trimming: Only leave those things on the "to be
installed" list that you _intend_ to install, i. e.,
not caring about dependencies, only listing the
"top ports". For example, if Firefox is a thing
you want to install, only list "firefox", and let
pkg care about any dependencies you might need.
You want CUPS? Only add the cups port plus the
specific additional drivers you might need, _if_
you need any. This way, you won't end up installing
stuff you _actually_ don't need.

Many years ago, I wrote a little "installer helper"
just for this purpose. Install stuff via pkg. Where
it is not possible, e. g., you need compile-time
options that aren't default, do "make missing | pkg
install" for the specific port, so you will only
compile _that_ port, none of its dependencies, then
compile it, "pkg lock", and continue. Then continue
with the next "top port". Goal: Only compile when
it's needed. Yes, I know, I should use póüdriérê
for that... but lazy people do lazy things...
that surprisingly work... ;-)



Oh, by the way:

On Wed, 20 Sep 2023 07:25:15 -0700, paul beard wrote:
> Starting from scratch made the most sense.

Yes. And:

> And to be fair, I am reluctant to
> remove stuff if I don't know what it's doing/why it was installed. 

You should check the list of installed software,
read the names, and ask yourself: What is that?
Why is it there? Who or what needs it? Those can
be very hard questions! ;-)

No, seriously: Don't do that. It's the road to
despair.





-- 
Polytropon
Magdeburg, Germany
Happy FreeBSD user since 4.0
Andra moi ennepe, Mousa, ...