# Synth usage question



## qsecofr (Dec 9, 2016)

First-time ports-mgt/synth user..  I chose to prepare system.  In doing so, I ended up with both lang/perl5.20 and lang/perl5.24 in /var/synth/live_packages/All/.  I can install the newer version from this repository, and `pkg info` tells me I did, as does the man page version tag.  But subsequent installs of packages that depend on perl seem to find the older version in the repository and re-install it.  

So my question is how do I correct whatever mistake I made?  It can't be as simple as renaming or deleting the tarred package file, could it?  Do I need to update ports tree again, and prepare system again?

Or, is there a command that tells synth to delete an individual package from its repository, and remove whatever index entry it might have created?


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## fernandel (Dec 9, 2016)

In /usr/local/etc/synth/LiveSystem-make.conf put:

```
DEFAULT_VERSIONS+= perl5=5.24
```
or whatever version you wanted.


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## PacketMan (Dec 12, 2016)

Hmmm strange. I have never seen Synth get versioning mixed up. It even deletes old packages from the repository when a newer one if fetched or built.  I would run this again to see what you get:

`portsnap fetch update
synth status`

That will tell you what will happen.  If you want to go forward then have Synth upgrade all the packages that are ready to go. Don't manually upgrade a package or two.

`synth upgrade-system`

or
`synth prepare-system
pkg upgrade`


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## qsecofr (Dec 15, 2016)

I believed I had the DEFAULT_VERSIONS set for perl version 5.24 in /etc/make.conf at the time.  I added it also into the synth live system file, as noted above, to be safe.  And I'll get things back on track.


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## marino (Dec 15, 2016)

/etc/make.conf is not used, ever.  Only the [profile]-make.conf is considered.


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## qsecofr (Dec 16, 2016)

Thanks for setting me straight.


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