Re: libdmx removal incomplete?

> Date: Mon, 29 Nov 2021 08:31:15 -0500
> From: Nick Holland <nick@holland-consulting.net>
>
> On 11/28/21 6:17 PM, Alexander wrote:
> ...
> > Lastly: From your emails it seems to me that the use of sysclean after
> > upgrading is very much encouraged if not necessary. Then why is it not
> > included in base (especially when it's developed by OpenBSD developers)?
> > Or am I misunderstanding the requirements for inclusion of packages in
> > base?
>
> VERY WRONG (as others have said).
>
> I've been using OpenBSD since v2.4, I have never run a "clean up" tool of
> any kind. I reinstall only when replacing hardware, the rest of the time,
> I run upgrades, I run snapshots and update frequently so I get a lot of
> old files piling up at times. And they just don't matter.
>
> Occasionally, I have manually deleted old libraries when I have
> run a system too long and an old HD starts getting tight on space
>
> [...]
>
> Using an automatic cleanup tool is far more likely to CAUSE problems
> than to fix problems. I'm not saying they /often/ cause problems,
> but since old files laying around basically never cause problems other
> than a small amount of space, there's some risk and almost no gain.
>
Thanks Nick. That makes sense to me and is/was already my approach.
I was mainly just curious to double-check with find(1) when I saw that
notice on current.html. I was not actively looking to free up space, as
me previously not even knowing that sysclean even exists might also
suggest ;)
But good to read another account on the OS's stability, thank you.
>
> ------------------------------
>
> Date: Sun, 28 Nov 2021 22:58:38 -0700 (MST)
> From: Theo de Raadt <deraadt@cvs.openbsd.org>
>
> >These files are still part of xshare70 set, and should not be
> >removed. There are part of xorgproto (xenocara/proto/xorgproto).
> >
> >> Lastly: From your emails it seems to me that the use of sysclean after
> >> upgrading is very much encouraged if not necessary. Then why is it not
> >> included in base (especially when it's developed by OpenBSD developers)?
> >> Or am I misunderstanding the requirements for inclusion of packages in
> >> base?
>
> ^^^^^^^
> WRONG. Deleting old files is DISCOURAGED -- because we do
> not have tooling to discover if a user has built their own
> private programs which require those files. I am actually
> getting a bit tired of (1) people overly worried about old
> files (2) who don't recognize they can always reinstall and
> (3) that we (OpenBSD) are not able to determine what to delete
> any better than you the user.

Thanks for making this very clear, makes sense that you can't deal with
every weird non-standard installation. I hadn't thought of that before.
But again not worried here, I was just a bit surprised when I stumbled
over those original *dmx* files.
As for reinstalling: Sure, I'm not really worried about my system, my
(tested) backup scheme is working beautifully and reinstalling takes
about as long as brewing a cup of coffee. But I would always like to
avoid it when possible, especially when I can learn something about my
system and how it works/is designed in the process.

Best regards,
Alexander