[tlbuild] running TL24 pretest on OpenBSD

[Robert Alessi]

Hi Karl,

[Sorry for the late reply, I've been out of town most of the time
lately.]

On Tue, Feb 20, 2024 at 03:52:10PM -0700, Karl Berry wrote:
> Hi Robert!
> 
>     running eg. x.y at the time when x.(y+2) 
>     has been released is fine, and I know quite a
>     number of people who are doing this.
> 
> I didn't know that. That seemingly makes it sensible for us to include
> openbsd binaries in our upstream TL, for the benefit of such
> people. There is little cost to it, anyway, as long as TL includes only
> one set of binaries for openbsd as for any other platform.  (It would
> create too many special cases to have binaries for multiple OS
> versions.)
> 
> Especially if you will answer user questions about it :).

I would gladly do this.

>     then it would suffice to clearly warn users not to
> 
> To my knowledge, there's no way to "clearly warn" users about anything.
> 
> I mean, I can put an item in the release notes and/or the documentation
> and/or even have the installer output a special message if openbsd
> binaries are installed, but in my experience many people will not ever
> see/pay attention to any message, regardless. The first they will know
> of a problem is when they update openbsd and tex breaks.
> 
>     a kind soul could provide *external* help say every
>     six months, something like:
>               # i_broke_tl_please_fetch_updated_binaries.sh
>     At any rate, I would then gladly extend my services as a kind soul!
> 
> As long as you're doing all the work for this external help :), that
> sounds perfect. Then there will be an easy way for the people who update
> their openbsd to recover.

Quite right.  But I would add that in the OpenBSD world the
relationship with documentation is *very* special.  Take this for
instance <https://www.openbsd.org/mail.html>:--

	Do your homework before you post.

	If you have an installation question, make sure that you have
	read the relevant documents, such as the INSTALL.* text files
	in the installation directories, the FAQ and the relevant man
	pages (start with afterboot(8)). Also check the mailing list
	archives. We want to help, but we wouldn't want to deprive you
	of a valuable learning experience, and no one wants to see the
	same question on the lists for the fifth time in a month.

And that applies rather rigorously: anyone who complains without
having read such manpage that refers to another one where the answer
can be found can expect to have a bad time!  This makes me doubt that
there will be many complains.

-- R

> So ... shall we give it a try? Norbert, all, wdyt? --thanks, karl.