Easy access to external repositories.

[René J.V. Bertin]

On Monday June 01 2015 09:27:11 Artur Szostak wrote:

Hi,

>make it much easier for the average user to include an optional 3rd party repository if they so wish.

I'm not sure if 3rd party repositories are something for the average user, when average is taken from a population where the majority don't know how to edit a configuration file by hand.

The idea isn't bad, but I think there should first be changes to base that make it clear when a 3rd party port masks an updated version in the standard repository, as well as to let PortGroup files apply beyond the repository they're in (if that's not the default repo). There are probably other things that could be considered as well to help the average user AND the port maintainers who'll undoubtedly get to resolve issues related to masked ports.

I see this kind of functionality more of a feature for a port/package manager GUI, the way the Linux counterparts (synaptic, muon, etc) allow to manage the source repositories.

PS: `port search foo` already lists the various versions of ports matching foo that are known, so the base functionality is already there.

PS2: How feasible would it be to add a possibility to override the normal Portfile resolution on a port-by-port basis? That'd probably be required too for the average user who would want to use a specific port (or 2) from a 3rd party repo but not others that he wants to use from another repo (esp. when that other repo is the official repo).

R.