[ports][GIT][portsnap] Warning about INDEX

did not understand, more time for what?
For anything the INDEX file was asked before (like the mentioned pkg version -vl '<'). As you noticed you can create it after every GIT update by yourself (make index - takes its time, too), or download it (make fetchindex - but assume that to be faulty when using git/gitup, as it wasn't build upon the files you've fetched, so that isn't really an option).
 
For anything the INDEX file was asked before (like the mentioned pkg version -vl '<'). As you noticed you can create it after every GIT update by yourself (make index - takes its time, too), or download it (make fetchindex - but assume that to be faulty when using git/gitup, as it wasn't build upon the files you've fetched, so that isn't really an option).
I mean too!
I cannot create a local index, I have to download the base one.
cd /usr/ports/ && make index
...
--- describe.x11-toolkits ---
--- describe.x11-wm ---
make_index: /usr/ports/databases/p5-AnyEvent-CouchDB: no entry for /usr/ports/databases/couchdb2
Done.
 
For anything the INDEX file was asked before (like the mentioned pkg version -vl '<'). As you noticed you can create it after every GIT update by yourself (make index - takes its time, too), or download it (make fetchindex - but assume that to be faulty when using git/gitup, as it wasn't build upon the files you've fetched, so that isn't really an option).
Please read my initial post. INDEX will be wrong in any case. It will possibly be "more wrong" when downloaded instead of locally created. But in a nutshell, you just shouldn't rely on it at all.
 
Please read my initial post. INDEX will be wrong in any case. It will possibly be "more wrong" when downloaded instead of locally created. But in a nutshell, you just shouldn't rely on it at all.
Using the selfmade INDEX just for comparing version numbers of the ports tree and the installed packages is save, flavors do not affect them ;) But I agree, it is much better to go on without it ;)

The missing of databases/couchdb2 is a bug (should be removed 2021-06-23 - but it's gone already); Either it should be added again, or databases/p5-AnyEvent-CouchDB has to be fixed not to use it.
 
Using the selfmade INDEX just for comparing version numbers of the ports tree and the installed packages is save, flavors do not affect them
That's, unfortunately, wrong. As makeindex doesn't consider the flavor when deriving the package name, it will go wrong as soon as you have a package from a non-default flavor.
 
FWIW, I have the following lines in /etc/periodic.conf on all of my FreeBSD machines:
Code:
weekly_status_pkg_enable="YES"
pkg_version_index="-P"
Actually -P is the default if there is no INDEX file, but it’s better to specify it explicitly, just in case an INDEX file happens to be downloaded or generated accidentally.

Also, using -P has the nice side effect that orphaned packages will be reported correctly (i.e. port origins that don’t exist anymore), which is not the case when an INDEX file is used.
 
I have a workaround I am using on portupgrade now, in the pkgtools.conf you can specify environment variables for specific ports, I added flavor=tiny for devel/git and it does work. How long I will be doing this for I dont know though, seems inevitable I will have to switch to tools that dont use the INDEX file.
 
In the context of ports moving to GIT, as well as (expected) deprecation of portsnap, I've seen some questions regarding INDEX, which was automatically fetched by portsnap.

Can someone tell me more about this? Why will portsnap be deprecated (and when is it expected to happen)?
 
It will be quite awhile yet. However, I think many people feel, (including myself), that it's easier to start getting used to using git now.
In another thread, I've discussed INDEX for my use. My only use of it is to sometimes find ports, using a package called psearch. For that purpose, using make fetchindex works, at least at present. I don't do much port searching, but it does happen. When I tried doing make index, however, psearch (or running make search in the ports directory), didn't work.

So, I think that in part, it depends upon what use you make of index. For *my very* limited use, I can use git, and then run make fetchindex. If you use it for other tasks, it may cause problems.
(I would also wait for a better answer than mine, from people who know more, such as Zirias).
 
Well, the whole INDEX procedure is definitely unreliable. When I try to build the index it bugs out after detecting a circular dependency:

Code:
--- describe.x11-servers ---
--- describe.x11-themes ---
--- describe.x11-toolkits ---
--- describe.x11-wm ---
make_index: Circular dependency loop found: php73-pear-Net_SMTP-1.9.0 depends upon itself.

 Done.

But meanwhile:
Code:
peter@vps:/home/peter $ ls -l /usr/ports/INDEX-12
-rw-r--r--  1 root  wheel  0 Apr  9 03:39 /usr/ports/INDEX-12
Very convincing 😒

I think I'm going to forget about building INDEX files entirely because building them takes a lot more time than the additional time for pkg version to run.
 
… My only use of it is to sometimes find ports, using a package called psearch. …

ports-mgmt/psearch – interesting, thanks.
scottro you've seen this already, for the benefit of other readers:

I don’t know exactly what features psearch provides, but maybe Porgle is useful for you. It’s a web-based search engine for the FreeBSD ports collection. It has low browser requirements, it also works fine with text-based browsers (lynx, w3m, links).

Entirely different, but surprisingly useful (and people are sometimes unaware of its existence): ports-mgmt/pkg-provides

If you'd like more from FreshPorts, consider raising an issue (or pull request); Dan Langille is very pleasantly responsive.
 
Why will portsnap be deprecated (and when is it expected to happen)?
So far I haven’t seen an official statement regarding the deprecation of portsnap, so this is speculation.
However, portsnap is still present in stable/13 and in 13.0, so my assumption is that it will be supported for the lifetime of that stable branch, which is five years from now (i.e. 2026).
FWIW, portsnap hasn’t been removed from -current (a.k.a. main) either, although this could happen at any time, in theory, since -current doesn’t give any guarantees whatsoever.
 
The plan to do so is officially announced (portmgr@ hat):

So, yes, when exactly this will happen is speculation, but it's unlikely to see a 180° turn here.
Yes, of course, I don’t have doubt about the deprecation itself. But since there is no deadline yet, it doesn’t appear that immediate action is required now, or in the near future.

Apart from that, I wouldn’t call a mail to the -ports list an “official announcement”. Typically, portsnap users are not on that list.
Such an important announcement must be posted to the -announce mailing list, and to a news entry on the web page, and to an entry in /usr/ports/UPDATING. Preferably after all mentions of portsnap have been removed from the documentation (especially the Handbook), being replaced with instructions suitable for non-developers how to use git or gitup to do what portsnap did. Also don’t forget the ports(7) manual page.

If that has been done, I would call it “official”.
 
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