On Sat, 27 Jan 2007 13:53:37 -0600, dave wrote:

>>> Well, I'm interested in downloading the latest packages...
> I'm still running 4.0 release with a couple of security fixes.

As you must know from having read
http://openbsd.rt.fm/faq/faq15.html#NoFun already, you will likely be
unsuccessful trying use any package built for -current on -release, due to
dependent library changes. If the package has no dependencies, it may
still not install, or if you force the install, it may not work properly,
due to different releases of dynamic libraries in Userland (/usr/lib).

You are, as they say, ON YOUR OWN.

> openbsd.nu/ports lists packages newer than what I am running. at nu tin
> is listed as rev 1.8, newer than the 1.6 I am running. Ditto for mplayer
> and ffmpeg.

If you'd like to follow -current ports developments, there are several
alternatives:

1. CVS and the various CVS-related tools, including the ports-ctm
mailing list.

2. The ports-changes@ mailing list

3. The ports tree web interface

4. Daily tarball updates

-------

If you don't have the -current ports tree handy on one of your
systems, it is available for perusal and review on-line, via web
interface. It lags the changes to the official tree by about 2 hours,
which is about the same as primary mirrors.

In addition to having -current in there, it has all of the cvs logs, so
you can see every change to every Makefile or patch file, over time, and
between various -releases, between -release and -stable ... whatever.

Here is a handy link to the ports tree:

http://www.openbsd.org/cgi-bin/cvsweb/ports

And all you need do is change that last word from "ports" to "src" to see
the OS tree. This is the same web interface you can find from the
website's home page, under "Getting Source."

> I just got email saying I can download the (newer) ports from
> openbsd.org, but that has not been my experience. At any rate, nu/ports
> is a very nice ports interface.

If you don't use cvs, or the web, you can find a -current ports tarball
updated every day on ftp.openbsd.org and all of the mirrors that carry
snapshots, in /pub/OpenBSD/snapshots.

--------

As I mentioned in my last post, -current *packages* are built and
available for some of the more popular architectures, on an irregular
basis. But they are designed for the convenience of -current users, and
you are not running -current.

And, because these "snapshot packages" are not directly synchronized with
snapshots of the OS, or snapshots of X (which are often done separately,
and of course, far more frequently than package builds), the user must be
able to manage inconsistancies, and perhaps do some manual rebuilding on
their own.

> Many Thanks for the info.

You're very welcome. Good luck, whether you decide to force these
packages on (lotsa luck!), or whether you decide to learn about -current,
or whether you just decide to track developments of your favorite packages.

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