Solving circular dependency?

EDIT: Add PKG_DBDIR to /etc/pkg_install.conf also.
EDIT: Also add same to /usr/pkg/etc/pkg_install.conf

0x1b I reinstalled last night, then followed these instructions just to make sure.

pin If you have downloaded a daily build from the last few days, then pkgdb is already at the new location.

If you install the latest -CURRENT or 9.1-STABLE and use only pkgin, then there is an easy way to make sure that things are consistent.

With the latest -CURRENT and 9.1-STABLE, the /usr/sbin/pkg_* binaries have all been fixed to use /usr/pkg/pkgdb as the database dir. Check this:

$ strings /usr/sbin/pkg_add | fgrep /pkgdb
        mv /var/db/pkg /usr/pkg/pkgdb
        mv /var/db/pkg.refcount /usr/pkg/pkgdb.refcount
/usr/pkg/pkgdb
/usr/pkg/pkgdb
$

That looks OK. But, when I install pkgin using pkg_add (I use the 9.1 pkg branch), that brings in pkg_install-20200701 which installs /usr/pkg/sbin/pkg_* files which still use /var/db/pkg:

$ strings /usr/pkg/sbin/pkg_add | fgrep /pkgdb
        # no newer /usr/pkg/pkgdb dir in code
$ strings /usr/pkg/sbin/pkg_add | | fgrep /db/
/var/db/pkg
        # Definitely using the old /var/db/pkg dir.
$ 

Clearly, these still use /var/db/pkg. So, we make things consistent (run as root):

# for f in /etc/mk.conf /etc/pkg_install.conf /usr/pkg/etc/pkg_install.conf
> do    [ "$f" = "/usr/pkg/etc/pkg_install.conf" ] && mkdir -p /usr/pkg/etc
>       fgrep -q 'PKG_DBDIR=/usr/pkg/pkgdb' $f ||
>       echo 'PKG_DBDIR=/usr/pkg/pkgdb' >> $f
> done
# cd /usr/pkg/sbin
# for f in /usr/sbin/pkg_*
> do    ln -sfv $f ${f##*/}
> done
pkg_add -> /usr/sbin/pkg_add
pkg_admin -> /usr/sbin/pkg_admin
pkg_create -> /usr/sbin/pkg_create
pkg_delete -> /usr/sbin/pkg_delete
pkg_info -> /usr/sbin/pkg_info 
# 

So, now we have:

1. pkgin installed using latest (system) pkg_add (DBDIR used is /usr/pkg/pkgdb)
2. Pkg binaries in /usr/pkg/sbin/ replaced with system ones (so DBDIR is the same)
3. As a back-up, PKG_DBDIR is set to the same places where needed.

With these simple things done, I've not had any issues so far.

Note that these instructions are for people using pkgin. I don't use pkgsrc. If you install packages from source, refer to instructions given by @pin

rvp I understand building pkg_install, but, why compile pkgin too. Has its database directory also been moved?

Because pkgin uses pkg_install's PKG_DBDIR information to find the database.

But, this is not the end of it, I found another problem today, see http://mail-index.netbsd.org/pkgsrc-users/2020/12/13/msg032860.html

Some packages have hard-coded paths that will be used at compile time. I found one, Gutteridge another in a few hours looking for issues. Are there more? Probably, I'm getting, ...shall we say, not so happy with this move.

pin haha one at a time ay? I'm going to need a tall beer tonight then.

What should I do about my pkgtools though? as I stated above, I just did: doas cp /usr/sbin/pkg* /usr/pkg/sbin/
Should I symlink them instead? or what is the preferred method for installing pkgtools into usr/pkg/sbin ?

rvp Quoting Christos Zoulas, one of the major devs, on the mailing-lists

I don't think that's the best solution. I think that backwards
compatibility should be provided all the time (until everyone has
migrated). The new tools can nag, but still be able to use the
old location. To silence them one should be able to make symlinks.
New installations can use the new location. Forcing changes like
this serve only to piss off users.
christos