'portsdb -Uu' vs 'make fetchindex' vs 'make index'

[Joshua Tinnin]

On Tue, Dec 21, 2004 at 05:34:06AM -0500, Gerard Seibert wrote:
> I am not sure if I quite understand this entire ports updating scenario
> correctly. I I run the command: 'cvsup ports-supfile', I then need to
> run either 'portsdb -Uu' or 'make index'. I also have the option of
> running 'make fetchindex' in place of either of those two proceeding
> commands. Is that correct?
 
Yes, basically.

Running portsdb -U will make an index. If you run portsdb -Uu you don't
have to make index as an additional step. Additionally, portsdb -u will 
automatically be run when it needs to be run, but you can run it 
manually as well. One of the fastest ways to update your tree and index 
is to cvsup, then cd /usr/ports && make fetchindex. You can run 
portsdb -u if you want, but you don't have to. It might help catch 
dependency problems if you do, however.

> I would assume, that I should run the 'make fetchindex' command
> immediately after running the 'cvsup' command.

Yes, you can do that, as I mentioned above.
 
> Does anyone have any suggestions as to a better way to accomplish this
> feat?

Test out different ways of updating, to find out which ones you want to 
use - for instance you can also use sysutils/p5-FreeBSD-Portindex - and 
then write scripts to accomplish it, and/or set it up as a cron job.

- jt