The mysterious REPO_AUTOUPDATE option in pkg.conf

[eternal_noob]

By default invoking either of pkg install or pkg upgrade will cause repository catalogues to be updated automatically, unless disabled by setting REPO_AUTOUPDATE to false in pkg.conf(5).

I wondered if anyone uses pkg with the REPO_AUTOUPDATE option set to false and for what reason.
If you use pkg with that option disabled, please tell me why.

 

[Geezer]

No. Why would you want to set it to false?

 

[eternal_noob]

This is a very good question. I smell a feature creep.

 

[Cath O'Deray]

… Why would you want to set it to false?

Two use cases come to mind:

1. an Internet connection is impossible, or unwanted
2. pkg-upgrade(8) in single user mode.

As far as I can tell, the REPO_AUTOUPDATE configuration variable originated in relation to pkg-version(8):

pkg version · Issue #396 · freebsd/pkg

When I issue 'pkg version -R' it does not actually use the remote repository for comparison; instead it uses the local cache of the remote repository, i.e. it checks local.sqlite against repo.sqlit...

github.com

• fixed in pkg-1.1 in 2012.

 

[Vull]

I guess I'd say that I do "use" it, but I use it by not changing it. Rather, I just leave it set to true. Obviously that's not what you mean here, so I'll vote "no."

 

[zirias@]

First of all, I wouldn't call something "feature creep" that amounts to just cleanly skipping some code based on a simple boolean flag.

The skipping is necessary anyways to make pkg commands dealing with remote repos work as an unprivileged user (without write permission to the local pkg databases).

A possible practical usecase is to avoid unnecessary requests when e.g. using pkg-rquery(8) a lot -- it doesn't make sense to check the remote repo each and every time. Of course, you can also use the commandline flag -U for that.

 

[eternal_noob]

I guess I'd say that I do "use" it, but I use it by not changing it.

Good point. Unfortunately, i can't edit the question anymore.

 

[sko]

I suspect the main use case is to prevent a repo update upon pkg search. I usually forget to use the -U switch with that and then have to wait until the repo is updated, which can be rather annoying on a slow connection, especially if I only wanted to get an idea of what is available for a given keyword and didn't plan on installing anything (yet).

 

[Geezer]

I guess I'd say that I do "use" it, but I use it by not changing it. Rather, I just leave it set to true. Obviously that's not what you mean here, so I'll vote "no."

Good point. Unfortunately, i can't edit the question anymore.

This is one of those cases where yes means no. A bit like talking with the wife, really.

 

[Erichans]

Tuning of REPO_AUTOUPDATE maybe appropriate sometimes when used in Jails creation?