#183 Add default ssl or non-ssl to fink.conf

[Kevin Horton]

A recent problem that a user had trying to install
something that needed an -ssl version of a dependency,
but the non-ssl version was already installed led Dan
Macks to say:

"For future reference, mix'n'matching -ssl and non-ssl
will usually cause all kinds of headaches. Decide for
yourself whether you want -ssl or not (IMO may as well
have it) and then carefully read the choices and
*always* choose the -ssl option (even if it isn't the
default choice)."

I too have gotten mired in this problem on several
occasions.

It would be useful if fink.conf contained a value which
said whether the user wanted to have the default
selection be -ssl or non-ssl. Most users tend to
select the default choices they are offered when
installing dependencies (I think), so this might help
avoid issues with mixing -ssl or non-ssl versions. The
setup should ask the user whether he wanted to default
to -ssl or non-ssl.

Alternatively, add functionality to fink (and apt-get)
so that they can automagically deal with mixes of -ssl
and non-ssl, replacing the non-ssl dependencies with
-ssl dependencies as required.

[Robert Wyatt]

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Seems like some of that functionality is provided by:
MatchPackageRegEx: (.*-ssl*$)

[Darian Lanx]

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You can already do this with the MatchPkgRegex field (the
name might not be 100% correct)

-d

[Kevin Horton]

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"You can already do this with the MatchPkgRegex"

I looked in man fink, and the closest thing I can find is various regular
expressions that can be used with fink list. Is there some undocumented
way to use regular expressions to cause fink to always present a default
-ssl choice when you have a dependency selection to make? How would
I use the MatchPackageRegEx functionality to do what I want?

[Martin Costabel]

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It is not in "man fink" because it is not an option on the
fink command line, it is a field in the fink.conf file. It
is therefore described in the Fink Users Guide, chapter on
configuration, section on advanced settings, URL
http://fink.sourceforge.net/doc/users-guide/conf.php?phpLang=en#advanced
Not all fields in fink.conf have command line equivalents.

[Robert Wyatt]

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Note that my solution below is slightly different than the
one in the Users Guide -- hopefully my variation will also
pick -ssl-shlibs and other variations whereas the one in the
Users Guide will not find this match (it will only pick a
-ssl variant, but not -ssl*).

[Daniel Macks]

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Also be aware that there is a fink.conf manpage. We try to
keep the relevant sections of the online user's guide in
sync with the manpages for [fink and fink.conf], at least in
concept if not in exact wording.

[Kevin Horton]

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Thanks everyone for the education. I had forgotten about the fink.conf
man page, and I wasn't aware how much more info there is in the one
line docs now than there waswhen I first started using fink.

I'll try the MatchPackageRegEx: (.*-ssl*$) solution recommended by
chupacerveza. That hopefully will make my life easier, but I still believe
that fink should automatically provide a seamless way to deal with mixes
of -ssl and non-ssl packages. Currently it simply fails, without giving the
user a clear, easy way out of the mess. Far better to somehow avoid the
mess in the first place.

It seems that the functionality I originally asked for already exists - it is
just not obvious unless you pore over the docs. Should we close this
feature request, and I'll start a new one which specifically asks for an
automatic way to deal with mixes of -ssl and non-ssl packages?