[PC-BSD Testing] 1.4 dev feedback and problems

[Charles A. Landemaine]

Message posted here: http://forums.pcbsd.org/viewtopic.php?t=9257

"Hi All,

This is a copy of an email that I sent the testing mailing list. For some  
reason, even though I am subscribed and receive mail from the list, the 4  
or 5 emails I have sent never appear. So I thought I would try here.

Hi All,

It time to rouse myself and give a little feedback on the excellent work  
that has been done on PC-BSD 1.4 dev.

1. My current most urgent problem is that the 6 August 2007 snapshot does  
not detect the hard disk partitions available when opting for a fresh  
install. This problem first surfaced on the last snapshot I tried (27 July  
2007). Prior to that I had no problems. I was able to install on the  
27/07/07 snapshot by selecting System Update/Repair. The disk partitions  
were then detected and I backed out and selected Fresh Install and voila  
the disk partitions were shown. That trick does not work with the 06/08/07  
snapshot.

2. The first 4 or 5 snapshots I tried, I elected to to a System  
Update/Repair. I noticed that many of the improvements that I knew should  
have been apparent, as I read the SVN Commits mailing list, could not be  
seen. For example, icons showing mounted cds on the desktop. It was only  
after doing a fresh install that all the improvements started to work. It  
was as if the update replaces packages with later versions but leaves  
configuration files and scripts untouched.

3. Also the update removes all software that is not part of the default  
install. So each time I have to reinstall numerous ports.

4. I use portupgrade-devel to manage my ports. After each upgrade or fresh  
install it complains of stale dependencies and requires a pkgdb -F or -O  
to fix. Which should I do? I never like the idea of forcing so I have used  
pkgdb -F so far. I elect to install stale dependencies and it proceeds to  
install ports such as kdewebdev, kdevelop and it's dependancies, mysql  
client, postgre sql client, kde-eyes and numerous fonts. It takes a few  
hours to do and is probably stuff that I will never use. What does pkgdb  
-O do? Or better yet shouldn't the default install have no stale  
dependencies?

5. The find faster cvsup server option when downloading source has never  
worked for me. It always checks several servers and then hangs.

Overall, I am very happy with PC-BSD and I would like to say a big thank  
you to all the developers. Wonderful work!

Ron"