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diff --git a/www/text.causal.agency/033-jorts.7 b/www/text.causal.agency/033-jorts.7 new file mode 100644 index 00000000..001f877c --- /dev/null +++ b/www/text.causal.agency/033-jorts.7 @@ -0,0 +1,485 @@ +.Dd February 2, 2022 +.Dt JORTS 7 +.Os "Causal Agency" +. +.Sh NAME +.Nm Introducing Jorts +.Nd june's ports +. +.Sh DESCRIPTION +Alright so I've gone off the deep end, +maybe. +After continual frustration with MacPorts +culminating in not being able to install +.Xr nvi 1 +on my work MacBook, +I have just gone ahead +and started my own personal ports tree +for macOS. +After a couple of weeks, +I have 32 ports in my tree +and only two remaining requested ports +installed from MacPorts. +. +.Pp +I set out with a couple ideas in mind: +.Bl -bullet +.It +This will be my own personal ports tree. +It only has to work for me. +Since I'm using it on both +my personal Intel MacBook Pro +still running Catalina +and my work M1 MacBook Pro +running Monterey, +it is at least that portable. +. +.It +It's ok to rely on +system libraries and tools +provided by macOS. +I'm not creating a distro, +so it doesn't need to be totally isolated. +This lets me skip really annoying things +like compiler toolchains. +. +.It +Sources get vendored, +either from release tarballs +or with +.Xr git-subtree 1 . +This allows totally pain-free +local patching, +and boy has this paid off. +I can just do what I need to do +to get the thing to build how I want +and commit it in git like anything else. +.Pp +It also means that the tree itself +is entirely self-contained +and doesn't rely on any external sources +or network access. +Honestly with some old and obscure software +it feels like upstream could disappear at any moment, +so this gives me peace of mind too. +.Pp +Another advantage of vendoring upstream sources +is that all of the code installed on my system +(in +.Pa /usr/local +anyway) +is easily inspected, +much like +.Pa /usr/src +on a BSD. +This can be super useful for debugging +or just for reference. +. +.It +Produce simple package tarballs. +They're just the contents of +.Ev DESTDIR +after a staged install. +They get installed for real +by untarring them in +.Pa / . +They can then be uninstalled +(or upgraded) +by removing the paths contained +in the tarball from the system. +. +.It +Track installed packages with symbolic links +to specific package tarballs. +Keep old tarballs around for rollbacks. +This means I can see what's installed +with plain old +.Xr ls 1 ! +.Bd -literal +$ ls */Installed +\&... +libretls/Installed toilet/Installed +mandoc/Installed tree/Installed + +$ ls -l toilet/Installed +lrwxr-xr-x 1 root staff 19 17 Jan 21:45 toilet/Installed -> toilet-0.3~1.tar.gz +.Ed +. +.It +Use +.Xr bmake 1 . +It's scrutable. +It also knows how to bootstrap itself +pretty well. +Since +.Xr bmake 1 +is itself a port in my tree +that would require +.Xr bmake 1 +to build and install, +I wrote a small +.Pa Bootstrap +shell script +to install +.Xr bmake 1 +.Dq manually +then use that +.Xr bmake 1 +to build and install its own port. +It also requires a bit of care +when upgrading the +.Xr bmake 1 +port since macOS +rather doesn't like a binary +deleting itself while it's running. +. +.It +No GNU software. +I simply refuse to do it. +To that end, +prefer configuring/building with +.Xr cmake 1 +where at all possible. +I fell into this early on +since I originally just wanted to install +.Xr nvi 1 +and +.Sy lichray/nvi2 +is a better upstream source these days +that uses +.Xr cmake 1 . +.Pp +With a port and support for +.Xr cmake 1 +in +.Pa Port.mk , +I can make changes to +.Pa CMakeLists.txt +files without issue. +I can also vendor upstreams +directly from git +rather than having to find +release tarballs with generated +.Pa configure +scripts and so on. +When I need to make changes +to the build systems of projects using autotools, +I either have to have autotools installed +(from outside my tree) +or painstakingly reflect my edits by hand +in the generated files, +both of which suck hard. +.El +. +.Pp +Ok so that's actually quite a number of ideas. +But they have come together +into something surprisingly usable +surprisingly quickly! +Like I said, +this is only intended to be +my own personal ports tree, +but I hope that some of these ideas +are interesting +and maybe inspire others +to explore similar approaches. +. +.Pp +But wait, +I'm not done yet! +There are some other interesting things +that I came up with along the way, +and also some complaints +about some upstreams, +but I'll try to keep those to a minimum. +. +.Pp +So it turns out that dependencies are hard. +Who knew? +It's easy enough to enforce +direct dependencies +at build time +by just checking for the required +.Pa Installed +symlinks. +It's less straightforward +to do this recursively, +which you need if +you want to be able to say, +.Do +Install +.Xr nvi +for me! +.Dc +and get +.Xr ncurses 3 , +.Xr cmake 1 +and +.Xr pkgconf 1 +installed first +if they aren't already. +. +.Pp +Rather than trying to do all that in +.Xr bmake 1 , +I wrote a shell script called +.Pa Plan , +which itself produces a shell script. +Given a list of ports +to install or upgrade, +it recursively gathers their dependencies +and feeds them to +.Xr tsort 1 , +which is a neat utility +which topologically sorts a graph. +In other words, +it determines the order +in which the graph of dependencies +should be installed. +The +.Pa Plan +script produces a list of +.Xr bmake 1 +commands to make that happen +on standard output, +which can be piped to +.Xr sh 1 . +So, +the way to say the above is: +.Bd -literal -offset ident +$ ./Plan -j4 nvi | sh -e +.Ed +. +.Pp +Now, +what's missing from this approach +is the ability to automatically +uninstall no-longer-needed dependencies. +It's something I've criticized Homebrew for lacking +and one of the reasons I started using MacPorts, +so it's somewhat ironic that +my own system lacks it as well. +However, +I don't think it's much of a problem, +since I'm only packaging +what I actually want installed +in the first place. +On my personal computer, +I have all 32 of my ports installed, +and I expect that to continue. +I can always keep using MacPorts +to install things I only intend +to use temporarily. +. +.Pp +Another thing I was slightly concerned about +from the beginning was disk usage. +I think the benefits of vendoring sources +far outweigh the cost in storage, +but it would be nice to at least minimize that cost. +Previously, +I wrote about +.Xr git-sparse-checkout 1 , +which allows you to only have certain paths +checked out in your git working tree. +Since port sources aren't always interesting +and only +.Em required +while actually building the port, +it makes sense to not have them always checked out. +. +.Pp +Rather than manipulate +.Xr git-sparse-checkout 1 +myself, +I added support for it +directly into +.Pa Port.mk . +If sparse checkout is enabled, +building a port will automatically +add its source tree to the checkout list, +and cleaning that port will +remove it from the list. +At rest, +only the port system itself +and the package tarballs +need to be present on the file system. +. +.Pp +It turns out that upstream +build system behaviour +is super inconsistent, +even among projects using +the same tools. +I started collecting a list of checks +to perform on the output of my port builds +to make sure they didn't do anything weird. +They live in +.Pa Check.sh , +which gets run +when a package tarball is created. +The current list of checks is: +.Bl -bullet +.It +Check for directories not included by +.Ev PACKAGE_DIRS . +In other words, +make sure the port isn't +trying to install anything +outside of +.Pa /usr/local . +Sometimes this makes sense, +though, +which is what +.Ev PACKAGE_DIRS +is for. +.It +Check for references to PWD, +i.e. the build directory. +This can mean the build +didn't understand +.Ev PREFIX +and +.Ev DESTDIR +correctly, +or that it built with debug info. +.It +Check for binaries without manuals. +If your software installs an executable in +.Pa bin +but not a manual page, +your software is incomplete! +Sometimes this just means +I missed an extra documentation install target. +.It +Check for dynamic linking to outside objects. +In other words, +if something ended up linking to +a library installed by MacPorts +rather than the one from +.Nm jorts +or macOS. +.It +Check for dynamic linking +to system libraries +.Nm jorts +provides instead. +Similar to the last one, +if both macOS and +.Nm jorts +provide a library, +check that ports link with the latter. +.It +Check for scripts with outside interpreters. +This is analogous to the linking checks +but for scripts, +checking that their shebang lines +refer to interpreters installed +by macOS or +.Nm jorts . +.El +. +.Pp +A number of my ports +still fail some of these checks, +but I have fixed a lot of problems +the script called out. +. +.Pp +Speaking of problem ports... +git's build system is truly awful. +I'm sorry, +it's just really disappointing. +On the upside though, +I did manage to patch it +to use +.Xr asciidoctor 1 +directly to generate manual pages +from asciidoc source, +rather than generating docbook or whatever +then converting that. +One less build dependency! +I also fixed up curl's +.Pa CMakeLists.txt +(which I guess are normally only used on Windows) +to build and install documentation properly. +And I got libcaca's Cocoa driver working again! +Very important to be able to run +.Xr cacafire 1 +in a Cocoa window. +. +.Pp +Shout out to SDL2, +which didn't require any patching +or extra options beyond +.Ev USE_CMAKE=yes . +Model upstream. +. +.Pp +Some other odds and ends: +I like being able to name ports how I want +(for example, +.Sy ag ) +and use my own port version convention, +using +.Ql + +to append VCS revisions +and +.Ql ~ +to append port revisions. +I don't think those are likely +to ever clash with upstream versioning schemes. +Not that I even need to follow upstream versioning. +There is no reason the version number of +.Xr dash 1 +should start with a zero. +. +.Pp +Speaking of versions, +a big downside of maintaining your own ports tree +is that you actually need to update it. +Thankfully, +once I packaged +.Xr curl 1 +and +.Xr jq 1 +(which needs a new release dammit, +it's been 4 years and the build is broken +on macOS), +I could use the Repology API +to check if I'm behind everyone else. +Far more reliable than +trying to automate checking upstreams +for new versions. +That lives in the +.Pa Outdated +shell script. +. +.Pp +Phew! +I wrote a lot about this. +It feels a little self-indulgent, +but I've had fun working on this +and want to share. +If anyone else tries anything similar, +or is weird enough to give +.Nm jorts +a try themselves, +I'd love to hear about it! +. +.Sh SEE ALSO +.Lk https://git.causal.agency/jorts/ +.Pp +.Lk https://youtu.be/Sx3ORAO1Y6s +. +.Sh AUTHORS +.An june Aq Mt june@causal.agency +.Pp +Listening to +.Em Arcade Fire \(em Arcade Fire (EP) , +.Em Arcade Fire \(em The Suburbs . +.Pp +Typed on a brand new +Leopold FC660M +with Cherry MX Red switches. +Lovely keyboard. diff --git a/www/text.causal.agency/Makefile b/www/text.causal.agency/Makefile index 7f339d77..12e4383e 100644 --- a/www/text.causal.agency/Makefile +++ b/www/text.causal.agency/Makefile @@ -32,6 +32,7 @@ TXTS += 029-topics.txt TXTS += 030-discs.txt TXTS += 031-books-2021.txt TXTS += 032-albums-2021.txt +TXTS += 033-jorts.txt all: colb ${TXTS} |