Did you know that we don't talk about packages anywhere in the Handbook?
Rectify that oversight. Unfinished (needs some examples) but it's better than nothing.
This commit is contained in:
Nik Clayton
parent
b545dba68e
commit
1949bb09e0
Notes:
svn2git
2020-12-08 03:00:23 +00:00
svn path=/head/; revision=9178
2 changed files with 480 additions and 202 deletions
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@ -1,45 +1,258 @@
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<!--
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<!--
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||||||
The FreeBSD Documentation Project
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The FreeBSD Documentation Project
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||||||
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||||||
$FreeBSD: doc/en_US.ISO_8859-1/books/handbook/ports/chapter.sgml,v 1.112 2000/11/23 11:32:51 ben Exp $
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$FreeBSD: doc/en_US.ISO_8859-1/books/handbook/ports/chapter.sgml,v 1.113 2001/02/09 19:03:22 nik Exp $
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||||||
-->
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-->
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||||||
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||||||
<chapter id="ports">
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<chapter id="ports">
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||||||
<title>Installing Applications: The Ports collection</title>
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<title>Installing Applications: Packages and Ports</title>
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||||||
<para><emphasis>Rewritten by &a.jim;, 22 November 1999. Original work
|
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by various people.</emphasis></para>
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||||||
|
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||||||
<sect1>
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<sect1>
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||||||
<title>Synopsis</title>
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<title>Synopsis</title>
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||||||
|
|
||||||
<para>The FreeBSD Ports collection allows you to compile and install a
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<para>There is only so much you can do with FreeBSD. If you are an
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||||||
very wide range of applications with a minimum amount of
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operating systems developer then the base system likely contains
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||||||
effort.</para>
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everything you need. If that is not what you are planning to do with
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|
FreeBSD then you will probably want to install additional
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||||||
|
software—perhaps a web server, or a mail reader, or a graphical
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||||||
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environment such as KDE or GNOME.</para>
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||||||
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<para>In general, it is a group of <link
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<para>If you have used a Unix system before you will know that the typical
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linkend="ports-skeleton">skeletons</link>
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procedure for installing third party software goes something like
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which contain a minimal set of items needed to make an application
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this:</para>
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compile and install cleanly on FreeBSD.</para>
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|
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|
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<para>Even with all the hype about open standards, getting a program
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<procedure>
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||||||
to compile on various UNIX platforms can be a tricky task.
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<step>
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Occasionally, you might be lucky enough to find that the program you
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<para>Download the software, which might be distributed in source code
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want compiles cleanly on your system, install everything into all
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format, or as a binary.</para>
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||||||
the right directories, and run flawlessly
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</step>
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<quote>out-of-the-box</quote>, but this behavior is somewhat rare.
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Most of the time, you find yourself needing to make modifications in
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order to get the program to work. This is where the FreeBSD Ports
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||||||
collection comes to the rescue.</para>
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<para>The general idea behind the Ports collection is to eliminate all
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<step>
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||||||
of the messy steps involved with making things work properly so that
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<para>Unpack the software from its distribution format (typically a
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the installation is simple and very painless. With the Ports
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tarball compressed with either &man.compress.1; or &man.gzip.1;).</para>
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||||||
collection, all of the hard work has already been done for you, and
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</step>
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you are able to install any of the Ports collection ports by simply
|
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typing <command>make install</command>.</para>
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<step>
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||||||
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<para>Locate the documentation (perhaps a <filename>README</filename>
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|
file, or some files in a <filename>doc/</filename> subdirectory) and
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read up on how to install the software.</para>
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</step>
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<step>
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<para>If the software was distributed in source format, compile it.
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This may involve editing a <filename>Makefile</filename>, or
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running a <command>configure</command> script, and other work.</para>
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</step>
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<step>
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<para>Test and install the software.</para>
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</step>
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</procedure>
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<para>And that is only if everything goes well. If you are installing a
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software package that was not deliberately ported to FreeBSD you may
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even have to go in and edit the code to make it work properly.</para>
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|
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|
<para>Should you want to, you can continue to install software the
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<quote>traditional</quote> way with FreeBSD. However, FreeBSD provides
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two technologies which can save you a lot of effort; packages and
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ports. At the time of writing, over 4,000 third party applications have
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been made available in this way.</para>
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|
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<para>For any given application, the FreeBSD package for that application
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|
is a single file which you must download. The package contains
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pre-compiled copies of all the commands for the application, as well as
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|
any configuration files or documentation. A downloaded package file can
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be manipulated with FreeBSD <literal>pkg_*</literal> commands, such as
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&man.pkg.add.1; &man.pkg.delete.1;, &man.pkg.info.1;, and so on.</para>
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|
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<para>Installing a new application can be carried out with a single
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command.</para>
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<para>A FreeBSD port for an application is a collection of files designed
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|
to automate the process of compiling an application from source
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code.</para>
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|
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|
<para>Remember that there are a number of steps you would normally carry
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|
out if you compiled a program yourself (unpacking, patching, compiling,
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|
installing). The files that make up a port contain all the necessary
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|
information to alllow the system to do this for you. You run a handful
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|
of simple commands and the source code for the application is
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automatically downloaded, extracted, patched, compiled, and installed
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for you.</para>
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|
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|
<para>In fact, the ports system can also be used to generate packages
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|
which can later be manipulated with the <literal>pkg_*</literal>
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|
commands.</para>
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<para>Both packages and ports understand
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<emphasis>dependencies</emphasis>. Suppose you want to install an
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application that depends on a specific library being installed. Both
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the application and the library have been made available as FreeBSD
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ports and packages. If you use the <command>pkg_add</command> command
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or the ports system to add the application, both will notice that the
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library has not been installed, and the commands will install the
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library first.</para>
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<para>Given that the two technologies are quite similar, you might be
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wondering why FreeBSD bothers with both. Packages and ports both have
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their own strengths, and which one you use will depend on your own
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|
preference.</para>
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<itemizedlist>
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<title>Package benefits</title>
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<listitem>
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<para>A compressed package tarball is typically smaller than the
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compressed tarball containing the source code for the application.</para>
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</listitem>
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<listitem>
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<para>Packages do not require any additional compilation. For large
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applications, such as <application>Mozilla</application>,
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<application>KDE</application>, or <application>GNOME</application>
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this can be important, particularly if you are on a slow system.</para>
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|
</listitem>
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<listitem>
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<para>Packages do not require you to understand any of the process
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involved in compiling software on FreeBSD.</para>
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</listitem>
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</itemizedlist>
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<itemizedlist>
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<title>Ports benefits</title>
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<listitem>
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<para>Packages are normally compiled with conservative options,
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because they have to run on the maximum number of systems. By
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installing from the port, you can tweak the compilation options to
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(for example) generate code that is specific to a 686 processor.</para>
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</listitem>
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<listitem>
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<para>Some packages have compile time options relating to what they
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|
can and can't do. For example, <application>Apache</application>
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can be configured with a wide variety of different builtin options.
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|
By building from the port you do not have to accept the default
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|
options, and can set them yourself.</para>
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|
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|
<para>In some cases, multiple packages will exist for the same
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||||||
|
application to specify certain settings. For example,
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|
<application>Ghostscript</application> is available as a
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|
<filename>ghostscript</filename> package and a
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|
<filename>ghostscript-nox11</filename> package, depending on whether
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|
or not you have installed an X11 server. This sort of rough
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|
tweaking is possible with packages, but rapidly becomes impossible
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|
if an application has more than one or two different compile time
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|
options.</para>
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||||||
|
</listitem>
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||||||
|
|
||||||
|
<listitem>
|
||||||
|
<para>The licensing conditions of some software distributions forbid
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||||||
|
binary distribution. They must be distributed as source
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|
code.</para>
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||||||
|
</listitem>
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||||||
|
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|
<listitem>
|
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|
<para>Some people do not trust binary distributions. At least with
|
||||||
|
source code, you can (in theory) read through it and look for
|
||||||
|
potential problems yourself.</para>
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|
</listitem>
|
||||||
|
|
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|
<listitem>
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|
<para>If you have local patches, you will need the source in order to
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||||||
|
apply them.</para>
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|
</listitem>
|
||||||
|
|
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|
<listitem>
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|
<para>Some people like having code around, so they can read it if they
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|
get bored, hack it, borrow from it (license permitting, of course),
|
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|
and so on.</para>
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|
</listitem>
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|
</itemizedlist>
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|
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|
<para>The remainder of this chapter will explain how to use packages and
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|
ports to install and manage third party software on FreeBSD.</para>
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</sect1>
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</sect1>
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|
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|
<sect1>
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|
<title>Finding your application</title>
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<para>Before you can install any applications you need to know what you
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want, and what the application is called.</para>
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|
<para>FreeBSD's list of available applications is growing all the time.
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Currently there are over 4,000 applications available as packages or
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|
ports. There are a number of ways to find what you want.</para>
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|
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||||||
|
<itemizedlist>
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||||||
|
<listitem>
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||||||
|
<para>The FreeBSD web site maintains an up-to-date searchable list of
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|
all the available applications, at
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<ulink url="http://www.FreeBSD.org/ports/">http://www.FreeBSD.org/ports/</ulink>.
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|
The name space is divided in to categories, and you may either
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||||||
|
search for an application by name (if you know it), or you can list
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all the applications available in a category.</para>
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|
</listitem>
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|
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|
<listitem>
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|
<para>Dan Langille maintains FreshPorts, at
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<ulink url="http://www.freshports.org/">http://www.freshports.org/</ulink>.
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FreshPorts tracks changes to the applications in the ports tree as
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they happen, and allows you to <quote>watch</quote> one or more
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ports, and will send you an e-mail when they are updated.</para>
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</listitem>
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|
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|
<listitem>
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<para>If you do not know the name of the application you want, try
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using a site like FreshMeat
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(<ulink url="http://www.freshmeat.net/">http://www.freshmeat.net/</ulink>)
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or AppWatch
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|
(<ulink url="http://www.appwatch.com/">http://www.appwatch.com/</ulink>)
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||||||
|
to find an application, then check back at the FreeBSD site to see
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|
if the application has been ported yet.</para>
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|
</listitem>
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|
</itemizedlist>
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||||||
|
</sect1>
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|
<sect1>
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|
<title>* Using the Packages System</title>
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|
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|
<sect2>
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|
<title>Installing a Package</title>
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|
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||||||
|
<para>After you have decided which application you want to install you
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|
need to download the package file and install it.</para>
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|
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<para>There are several ways you can do this.</para>
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|
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<example>
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|
<title>Downloading and installing in multiple steps</title>
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|
<para></para>
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|
</example>
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|
</sect2>
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|
<sect2>
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|
<title>Deleting a Package</title>
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|
<para></para>
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|
</sect2>
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|
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|
<sect2>
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|
<title>Updating a Package</title>
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|
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|
<para></para>
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|
</sect2>
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|
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|
<sect2>
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|
<title></title>
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||||||
|
|
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|
<para></para>
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|
</sect2>
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|
</sect1>
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|
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<sect1 id="ports-using">
|
<sect1 id="ports-using">
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<title>Using the Ports Collection</title>
|
<title>Using the Ports Collection</title>
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||||||
|
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|
|
@ -361,80 +574,6 @@ Receiving xchat-1.3.8.tar.bz2 (305543 bytes): 100%
|
||||||
</answer>
|
</answer>
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||||||
</qandaentry>
|
</qandaentry>
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
<qandaentry>
|
|
||||||
<question>
|
|
||||||
<para>I thought you were supposed to use packages to install
|
|
||||||
extra programs?</para>
|
|
||||||
</question>
|
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
<answer>
|
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||||||
<para>Yes, that is usually the quickest and easiest way of
|
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doing it.</para>
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|
||||||
</answer>
|
|
||||||
</qandaentry>
|
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
<qandaentry>
|
|
||||||
<question>
|
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||||||
<para>So why bother with ports then?</para>
|
|
||||||
</question>
|
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
<answer>
|
|
||||||
<para>Several reasons:</para>
|
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
<orderedlist>
|
|
||||||
<listitem>
|
|
||||||
<para>The licensing conditions of some software
|
|
||||||
distributions forbid binary distribution. They must be
|
|
||||||
distributed as source code.</para>
|
|
||||||
</listitem>
|
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
<listitem>
|
|
||||||
<para>Some people do not trust binary distributions. At
|
|
||||||
least with source code, you can (in theory) read through
|
|
||||||
it and look for potential problems yourself.</para>
|
|
||||||
</listitem>
|
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
<listitem>
|
|
||||||
<para>If you have local patches, you will need the source in
|
|
||||||
order to apply them.</para>
|
|
||||||
</listitem>
|
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
<listitem>
|
|
||||||
<para>You might have opinions on how a program should be
|
|
||||||
compiled that differ from the person who did the
|
|
||||||
package—some people have strong views on what
|
|
||||||
optimization settings should be used, whether to build
|
|
||||||
debug versions and then strip them or not, and so on.</para>
|
|
||||||
</listitem>
|
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
<listitem>
|
|
||||||
<para>Packages are normally built with quite conservative
|
|
||||||
settings. If a port has a compilation option to use code
|
|
||||||
for a specific processor, or a particular add-on board you
|
|
||||||
can enable this yourself in the port, without the people
|
|
||||||
making the package having to produce many, many different
|
|
||||||
packaged versions.</para>
|
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
<para>The most obvious exception to this rule is paper sizes.
|
|
||||||
If a package can be provided with default support for
|
|
||||||
different paper sizes we will often provide multiple
|
|
||||||
packages, one per paper size.</para>
|
|
||||||
</listitem>
|
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
<listitem>
|
|
||||||
<para>Some people like having code around, so they can read
|
|
||||||
it if they get bored, hack it, borrow from it (license
|
|
||||||
permitting, of course), and so on.</para>
|
|
||||||
</listitem>
|
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
<listitem>
|
|
||||||
<para>If you ain't got the source, it ain't software!
|
|
||||||
<!-- smiley -->;-)</para>
|
|
||||||
</listitem>
|
|
||||||
</orderedlist>
|
|
||||||
</answer>
|
|
||||||
</qandaentry>
|
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
<qandaentry>
|
<qandaentry>
|
||||||
<question>
|
<question>
|
||||||
<para id="ports-patch">What is a patch?</para>
|
<para id="ports-patch">What is a patch?</para>
|
||||||
|
|
|
||||||
|
|
@ -1,45 +1,258 @@
|
||||||
<!--
|
<!--
|
||||||
The FreeBSD Documentation Project
|
The FreeBSD Documentation Project
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
$FreeBSD: doc/en_US.ISO_8859-1/books/handbook/ports/chapter.sgml,v 1.112 2000/11/23 11:32:51 ben Exp $
|
$FreeBSD: doc/en_US.ISO_8859-1/books/handbook/ports/chapter.sgml,v 1.113 2001/02/09 19:03:22 nik Exp $
|
||||||
-->
|
-->
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
<chapter id="ports">
|
<chapter id="ports">
|
||||||
<title>Installing Applications: The Ports collection</title>
|
<title>Installing Applications: Packages and Ports</title>
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
<para><emphasis>Rewritten by &a.jim;, 22 November 1999. Original work
|
|
||||||
by various people.</emphasis></para>
|
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
<sect1>
|
<sect1>
|
||||||
<title>Synopsis</title>
|
<title>Synopsis</title>
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
<para>The FreeBSD Ports collection allows you to compile and install a
|
<para>There is only so much you can do with FreeBSD. If you are an
|
||||||
very wide range of applications with a minimum amount of
|
operating systems developer then the base system likely contains
|
||||||
effort.</para>
|
everything you need. If that is not what you are planning to do with
|
||||||
|
FreeBSD then you will probably want to install additional
|
||||||
|
software—perhaps a web server, or a mail reader, or a graphical
|
||||||
|
environment such as KDE or GNOME.</para>
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
<para>In general, it is a group of <link
|
<para>If you have used a Unix system before you will know that the typical
|
||||||
linkend="ports-skeleton">skeletons</link>
|
procedure for installing third party software goes something like
|
||||||
which contain a minimal set of items needed to make an application
|
this:</para>
|
||||||
compile and install cleanly on FreeBSD.</para>
|
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
<para>Even with all the hype about open standards, getting a program
|
<procedure>
|
||||||
to compile on various UNIX platforms can be a tricky task.
|
<step>
|
||||||
Occasionally, you might be lucky enough to find that the program you
|
<para>Download the software, which might be distributed in source code
|
||||||
want compiles cleanly on your system, install everything into all
|
format, or as a binary.</para>
|
||||||
the right directories, and run flawlessly
|
</step>
|
||||||
<quote>out-of-the-box</quote>, but this behavior is somewhat rare.
|
|
||||||
Most of the time, you find yourself needing to make modifications in
|
|
||||||
order to get the program to work. This is where the FreeBSD Ports
|
|
||||||
collection comes to the rescue.</para>
|
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
<para>The general idea behind the Ports collection is to eliminate all
|
<step>
|
||||||
of the messy steps involved with making things work properly so that
|
<para>Unpack the software from its distribution format (typically a
|
||||||
the installation is simple and very painless. With the Ports
|
tarball compressed with either &man.compress.1; or &man.gzip.1;).</para>
|
||||||
collection, all of the hard work has already been done for you, and
|
</step>
|
||||||
you are able to install any of the Ports collection ports by simply
|
|
||||||
typing <command>make install</command>.</para>
|
<step>
|
||||||
|
<para>Locate the documentation (perhaps a <filename>README</filename>
|
||||||
|
file, or some files in a <filename>doc/</filename> subdirectory) and
|
||||||
|
read up on how to install the software.</para>
|
||||||
|
</step>
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
<step>
|
||||||
|
<para>If the software was distributed in source format, compile it.
|
||||||
|
This may involve editing a <filename>Makefile</filename>, or
|
||||||
|
running a <command>configure</command> script, and other work.</para>
|
||||||
|
</step>
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
<step>
|
||||||
|
<para>Test and install the software.</para>
|
||||||
|
</step>
|
||||||
|
</procedure>
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
<para>And that is only if everything goes well. If you are installing a
|
||||||
|
software package that was not deliberately ported to FreeBSD you may
|
||||||
|
even have to go in and edit the code to make it work properly.</para>
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
<para>Should you want to, you can continue to install software the
|
||||||
|
<quote>traditional</quote> way with FreeBSD. However, FreeBSD provides
|
||||||
|
two technologies which can save you a lot of effort; packages and
|
||||||
|
ports. At the time of writing, over 4,000 third party applications have
|
||||||
|
been made available in this way.</para>
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
<para>For any given application, the FreeBSD package for that application
|
||||||
|
is a single file which you must download. The package contains
|
||||||
|
pre-compiled copies of all the commands for the application, as well as
|
||||||
|
any configuration files or documentation. A downloaded package file can
|
||||||
|
be manipulated with FreeBSD <literal>pkg_*</literal> commands, such as
|
||||||
|
&man.pkg.add.1; &man.pkg.delete.1;, &man.pkg.info.1;, and so on.</para>
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
<para>Installing a new application can be carried out with a single
|
||||||
|
command.</para>
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
<para>A FreeBSD port for an application is a collection of files designed
|
||||||
|
to automate the process of compiling an application from source
|
||||||
|
code.</para>
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
<para>Remember that there are a number of steps you would normally carry
|
||||||
|
out if you compiled a program yourself (unpacking, patching, compiling,
|
||||||
|
installing). The files that make up a port contain all the necessary
|
||||||
|
information to alllow the system to do this for you. You run a handful
|
||||||
|
of simple commands and the source code for the application is
|
||||||
|
automatically downloaded, extracted, patched, compiled, and installed
|
||||||
|
for you.</para>
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
<para>In fact, the ports system can also be used to generate packages
|
||||||
|
which can later be manipulated with the <literal>pkg_*</literal>
|
||||||
|
commands.</para>
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
<para>Both packages and ports understand
|
||||||
|
<emphasis>dependencies</emphasis>. Suppose you want to install an
|
||||||
|
application that depends on a specific library being installed. Both
|
||||||
|
the application and the library have been made available as FreeBSD
|
||||||
|
ports and packages. If you use the <command>pkg_add</command> command
|
||||||
|
or the ports system to add the application, both will notice that the
|
||||||
|
library has not been installed, and the commands will install the
|
||||||
|
library first.</para>
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
<para>Given that the two technologies are quite similar, you might be
|
||||||
|
wondering why FreeBSD bothers with both. Packages and ports both have
|
||||||
|
their own strengths, and which one you use will depend on your own
|
||||||
|
preference.</para>
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
<itemizedlist>
|
||||||
|
<title>Package benefits</title>
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
<listitem>
|
||||||
|
<para>A compressed package tarball is typically smaller than the
|
||||||
|
compressed tarball containing the source code for the application.</para>
|
||||||
|
</listitem>
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
<listitem>
|
||||||
|
<para>Packages do not require any additional compilation. For large
|
||||||
|
applications, such as <application>Mozilla</application>,
|
||||||
|
<application>KDE</application>, or <application>GNOME</application>
|
||||||
|
this can be important, particularly if you are on a slow system.</para>
|
||||||
|
</listitem>
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
<listitem>
|
||||||
|
<para>Packages do not require you to understand any of the process
|
||||||
|
involved in compiling software on FreeBSD.</para>
|
||||||
|
</listitem>
|
||||||
|
</itemizedlist>
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
<itemizedlist>
|
||||||
|
<title>Ports benefits</title>
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
<listitem>
|
||||||
|
<para>Packages are normally compiled with conservative options,
|
||||||
|
because they have to run on the maximum number of systems. By
|
||||||
|
installing from the port, you can tweak the compilation options to
|
||||||
|
(for example) generate code that is specific to a 686 processor.</para>
|
||||||
|
</listitem>
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
<listitem>
|
||||||
|
<para>Some packages have compile time options relating to what they
|
||||||
|
can and can't do. For example, <application>Apache</application>
|
||||||
|
can be configured with a wide variety of different builtin options.
|
||||||
|
By building from the port you do not have to accept the default
|
||||||
|
options, and can set them yourself.</para>
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
<para>In some cases, multiple packages will exist for the same
|
||||||
|
application to specify certain settings. For example,
|
||||||
|
<application>Ghostscript</application> is available as a
|
||||||
|
<filename>ghostscript</filename> package and a
|
||||||
|
<filename>ghostscript-nox11</filename> package, depending on whether
|
||||||
|
or not you have installed an X11 server. This sort of rough
|
||||||
|
tweaking is possible with packages, but rapidly becomes impossible
|
||||||
|
if an application has more than one or two different compile time
|
||||||
|
options.</para>
|
||||||
|
</listitem>
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
<listitem>
|
||||||
|
<para>The licensing conditions of some software distributions forbid
|
||||||
|
binary distribution. They must be distributed as source
|
||||||
|
code.</para>
|
||||||
|
</listitem>
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
<listitem>
|
||||||
|
<para>Some people do not trust binary distributions. At least with
|
||||||
|
source code, you can (in theory) read through it and look for
|
||||||
|
potential problems yourself.</para>
|
||||||
|
</listitem>
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
<listitem>
|
||||||
|
<para>If you have local patches, you will need the source in order to
|
||||||
|
apply them.</para>
|
||||||
|
</listitem>
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
<listitem>
|
||||||
|
<para>Some people like having code around, so they can read it if they
|
||||||
|
get bored, hack it, borrow from it (license permitting, of course),
|
||||||
|
and so on.</para>
|
||||||
|
</listitem>
|
||||||
|
</itemizedlist>
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
<para>The remainder of this chapter will explain how to use packages and
|
||||||
|
ports to install and manage third party software on FreeBSD.</para>
|
||||||
</sect1>
|
</sect1>
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
<sect1>
|
||||||
|
<title>Finding your application</title>
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
<para>Before you can install any applications you need to know what you
|
||||||
|
want, and what the application is called.</para>
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
<para>FreeBSD's list of available applications is growing all the time.
|
||||||
|
Currently there are over 4,000 applications available as packages or
|
||||||
|
ports. There are a number of ways to find what you want.</para>
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
<itemizedlist>
|
||||||
|
<listitem>
|
||||||
|
<para>The FreeBSD web site maintains an up-to-date searchable list of
|
||||||
|
all the available applications, at
|
||||||
|
<ulink url="http://www.FreeBSD.org/ports/">http://www.FreeBSD.org/ports/</ulink>.
|
||||||
|
The name space is divided in to categories, and you may either
|
||||||
|
search for an application by name (if you know it), or you can list
|
||||||
|
all the applications available in a category.</para>
|
||||||
|
</listitem>
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
<listitem>
|
||||||
|
<para>Dan Langille maintains FreshPorts, at
|
||||||
|
<ulink url="http://www.freshports.org/">http://www.freshports.org/</ulink>.
|
||||||
|
FreshPorts tracks changes to the applications in the ports tree as
|
||||||
|
they happen, and allows you to <quote>watch</quote> one or more
|
||||||
|
ports, and will send you an e-mail when they are updated.</para>
|
||||||
|
</listitem>
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
<listitem>
|
||||||
|
<para>If you do not know the name of the application you want, try
|
||||||
|
using a site like FreshMeat
|
||||||
|
(<ulink url="http://www.freshmeat.net/">http://www.freshmeat.net/</ulink>)
|
||||||
|
or AppWatch
|
||||||
|
(<ulink url="http://www.appwatch.com/">http://www.appwatch.com/</ulink>)
|
||||||
|
to find an application, then check back at the FreeBSD site to see
|
||||||
|
if the application has been ported yet.</para>
|
||||||
|
</listitem>
|
||||||
|
</itemizedlist>
|
||||||
|
</sect1>
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
<sect1>
|
||||||
|
<title>* Using the Packages System</title>
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
<sect2>
|
||||||
|
<title>Installing a Package</title>
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
<para>After you have decided which application you want to install you
|
||||||
|
need to download the package file and install it.</para>
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
<para>There are several ways you can do this.</para>
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
<example>
|
||||||
|
<title>Downloading and installing in multiple steps</title>
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
<para></para>
|
||||||
|
</example>
|
||||||
|
</sect2>
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
<sect2>
|
||||||
|
<title>Deleting a Package</title>
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
<para></para>
|
||||||
|
</sect2>
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
<sect2>
|
||||||
|
<title>Updating a Package</title>
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
<para></para>
|
||||||
|
</sect2>
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
<sect2>
|
||||||
|
<title></title>
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
<para></para>
|
||||||
|
</sect2>
|
||||||
|
</sect1>
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
<sect1 id="ports-using">
|
<sect1 id="ports-using">
|
||||||
<title>Using the Ports Collection</title>
|
<title>Using the Ports Collection</title>
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
|
@ -361,80 +574,6 @@ Receiving xchat-1.3.8.tar.bz2 (305543 bytes): 100%
|
||||||
</answer>
|
</answer>
|
||||||
</qandaentry>
|
</qandaentry>
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
<qandaentry>
|
|
||||||
<question>
|
|
||||||
<para>I thought you were supposed to use packages to install
|
|
||||||
extra programs?</para>
|
|
||||||
</question>
|
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
<answer>
|
|
||||||
<para>Yes, that is usually the quickest and easiest way of
|
|
||||||
doing it.</para>
|
|
||||||
</answer>
|
|
||||||
</qandaentry>
|
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
<qandaentry>
|
|
||||||
<question>
|
|
||||||
<para>So why bother with ports then?</para>
|
|
||||||
</question>
|
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
<answer>
|
|
||||||
<para>Several reasons:</para>
|
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
<orderedlist>
|
|
||||||
<listitem>
|
|
||||||
<para>The licensing conditions of some software
|
|
||||||
distributions forbid binary distribution. They must be
|
|
||||||
distributed as source code.</para>
|
|
||||||
</listitem>
|
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
<listitem>
|
|
||||||
<para>Some people do not trust binary distributions. At
|
|
||||||
least with source code, you can (in theory) read through
|
|
||||||
it and look for potential problems yourself.</para>
|
|
||||||
</listitem>
|
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
<listitem>
|
|
||||||
<para>If you have local patches, you will need the source in
|
|
||||||
order to apply them.</para>
|
|
||||||
</listitem>
|
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
<listitem>
|
|
||||||
<para>You might have opinions on how a program should be
|
|
||||||
compiled that differ from the person who did the
|
|
||||||
package—some people have strong views on what
|
|
||||||
optimization settings should be used, whether to build
|
|
||||||
debug versions and then strip them or not, and so on.</para>
|
|
||||||
</listitem>
|
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
<listitem>
|
|
||||||
<para>Packages are normally built with quite conservative
|
|
||||||
settings. If a port has a compilation option to use code
|
|
||||||
for a specific processor, or a particular add-on board you
|
|
||||||
can enable this yourself in the port, without the people
|
|
||||||
making the package having to produce many, many different
|
|
||||||
packaged versions.</para>
|
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
<para>The most obvious exception to this rule is paper sizes.
|
|
||||||
If a package can be provided with default support for
|
|
||||||
different paper sizes we will often provide multiple
|
|
||||||
packages, one per paper size.</para>
|
|
||||||
</listitem>
|
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
<listitem>
|
|
||||||
<para>Some people like having code around, so they can read
|
|
||||||
it if they get bored, hack it, borrow from it (license
|
|
||||||
permitting, of course), and so on.</para>
|
|
||||||
</listitem>
|
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
<listitem>
|
|
||||||
<para>If you ain't got the source, it ain't software!
|
|
||||||
<!-- smiley -->;-)</para>
|
|
||||||
</listitem>
|
|
||||||
</orderedlist>
|
|
||||||
</answer>
|
|
||||||
</qandaentry>
|
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
<qandaentry>
|
<qandaentry>
|
||||||
<question>
|
<question>
|
||||||
<para id="ports-patch">What is a patch?</para>
|
<para id="ports-patch">What is a patch?</para>
|
||||||
|
|
|
||||||
Loading…
Reference in a new issue