Synth and circular dependencies

[Jonathan Chen]

On 24 August 2017 at 11:12, Thomas Mueller <mueller6722 at twc.com> wrote:
>> > I can run "synth status ..." on desired packages to see before running if the options are compatible.
>
>> My 2 cents worth: the port maintainers usually do a good job of
>> choosing sensible default options. I would just move everything out of
>> /var/db/ports/ and see what a "synth upgrade-system" comes back with.
>> My LiveSystem-make.conf only contains a handful of lines where I
>> disagree with the port maintainers' choices.
>
>> Cheers.
>
>> Jonathan Chen <jonc at chen.org.nz>
>
> I could start from scratch on the options but not deleting packages already installed.
>
> But it seems more cumbersome with "make PORT_DBDIR=... showconfig" than with "make show-options" and "make show depends-options" in NetBSD with pkgsrc.  Or maybe I'm spoiled?
>
> Does synth look for options in /etc/make.conf, or only in /usr/local/etc/synth/LiveSystem-make.conf ?

synth doesn't look at /etc/make.conf. When it is building, it uses the
options from /usr/local/etc/synth/LiveSystem-make.conf.

> From "man synth"
>
>      Port options directory    This is the directory where all the selected
>                                options for ports are cached.  The initial
>                                value comes from a system scan, so chances are
>                                it has the correct value. However, if the user
>                                would like a separate configuration area for
>                                port options, they would create the new direc-
>                                tory and set this value accordingly (but the
>                                user would have to ensure the new location is
>                                passed to the port when configuring port
>                                options later in that case).
>
> Do the options have to be in /var/db/ports format, which I want to avoid at all cost?  Or is the LiveSystem-make.conf and /etc/make.conf good enough?

synth will inspect the specified ports-options directory for options
in /var/db/ports format. This allows new users to immediately use
synth without having to configure anything.

> Just to see what would happen, I don't think I need to run "synth upgrade-system".  "synth status" might be good enough.

Yup, you're right.

Cheers.
-- 
Jonathan Chen <jonc at chen.org.nz>