pkgsrcCon 2007: Behind the Makefiles

Amitai Schlair

The NetBSD Project

Who here uses pkgsrc?

• Cool, me too
• Which platforms?

Who am I?

• pkgsrc developer
• Frequent NetBSD and Mac user
• Software and IT consultant
• Full-time college student

What is pkgsrc?

• Package system for managing third-party software installations
• Originally derived from FreeBSD Ports for NetBSD
• Infrastructure evolved for platform portability
• Official package system of NetBSD and DragonFly
• Unofficial package system for savvy administrators on other platforms

What is pkgsrcCon?

• Annual conference for discussing pkgsrc
• And/or for traveling to some European city and drinking beer
• But seriously, pkgsrc
• Not even kidding

What happened in Barcelona this weekend?

• I don't know, I was at a conference the whole time
• It ran Friday through Sunday
• Ten planned talks
• Plus more talking

Friday

• [joerg] Another year of pkgsrc: News since last pkgsrcCon
• [cube] Using virtualization and pkgsrc in heterogeneous networks

Saturday

• [jkl/jlam] pkgjam: Moving away from the One True Tree
• [david] Building development code from pkgsrc
• [bad] From the trenches: experiences from a user's POV
• [joerg/schmonz/rillig/cube] Platform status update (panel discussion)

Sunday

• [salo] pkgsrc Release Engineering: the work behind the scenes
• [schmonz] Packaging djbware
• [joerg] Reorganizing tools, buildlink and build phases
• [rillig] Unprivileged builds
• Informal: jlam on some R&D in the early stages
• Informal: 3/4 of pkgsrc-pmc in one place

Every day

• Big dinner, just about everyone there
• Informal: lots of quick technical discussions in small groups
• Possibly the most productive aspect of pkgsrcCon
• Example: me
  • Received excellent suggestions for djbware
  • Found lots of developers who want better OS X usability
• Can't possibly list all the positive effects

Reflection #1/3: Productivity

• This was pkgsrcCon IV; we've got the hang of this (video, even)
• It's easy to forget how valuable face time is, when you're mostly limited to online interaction
• It's easy to remember how valuable face time is, when you finally find some

Reflection #2/3: Openness

• Nobody is deliberately excluded, but many of us already know each other
• We need to actively help new pkgsrcCon attendees feel included
• Anyone who attends pkgsrcCon is a potential developer
• We'll do better at this next time

Reflection #3/3: People

• Great crowd this year
• Lots of spontaneous technical (and social) conversation
• We've collaborated productively for years and we genuinely appreciate each other's work
• Makes it easy to have constructive conversations
• It's a privilege and a pleasure to be part of such a project

Action items

• Coming soon: watch the videos, read the slides
• You must continue to use and love pkgsrc
• You must get involved (if you can)
• You must attend pkgsrcCon next year

FIN

• Questions?