nbpkg

N.B.: next build, new binaries, no biggie. See also nbvm.

What's here:

For increasingly arbitrary combinations of...

• Unixy host/guest OSes
• hardware architectures
• emulation and virtualization tools

...we have a consistent shell UI to perform various pkgsrc-specific steps.

I use this, at present, for couple purposes:

• Test-build pkgsrc packages on a variety of platforms
• Do weekly rebuilds of all packages for my server

Why (generally)

In principle, when I'm responsible for outcomes, I want to encounter problems myself as early as possible, so as to:

1. Narrow them down with minimal time and brain, and
2. Consider mitigation options with maximal time and brain.

Why (this repo specifically)

In practice, this repo helps me:

• As a pkgsrc developer, to make sure all my packages work on a wide variety of platforms.
• As a server administrator, to update every week to a fresh-built set of the latest packages I rely on (not only mine).

Goals

Short-term

• Automate more manual steps

Medium-term

• Connect two hosts (such as aarch64 and x86_64) in tandem: for any guest, run where virtualized, else run where emulation is probably "faster"
• Learn how to do a (limited) bulk build and publish (for myself) the results
• Iterate over all guests

Long-term

• Have these tools adopted as official pkgsrc infrastructure
• Allow pkgsrc developers to submit proposed changes before committing, to see how they build across a wide variety of platforms
• Build a GitHub Action backed by these tools