! OpenBSD is a fairly complete system of its own, but still there is a lot
! of software that one might want see added. However there is the problem
! on where to draw the line as to what to include, as well as the occasional
! licensing and export restriction problems.
! In what is supposed to be small stand-alone unix-like operating system,
! some things just can't be shipped with the system.
! We wanted to find a way for users to easily get software we don't provide
! and started to look around. We didn't have to look far as a sibling project,
! FreeBSD, had an excellent mechanism
! for exactly this purpose called
! "The ports collection".
! At first we tried to use their collection as-is, but due to incompatibility
! problems between FreeBSD and OpenBSD we decided to branch out and create
! our very own OpenBSD Ports Project using FreeBSD's as a starting point.
! This also allows us to tune the ports better to our system.
!
Short description and setup
! The ports idea is to have, for each piece of software, a Makefile that
!
!
Describes where to fetch it,
!
How to do the fetch,
!
What it is depending upon (if anything),
!
how to alter the sources (if needed),
!
and how to configure, build and install it.
!
!
! Normally this information is kept in an hierarchy under /usr/ports
! (however, this is configurable).
!
! We recommend reading the ports
! chapter in the FreeBSD handbook
! to get information on how to setup this hierarchy until OpenBSD can complete
! its own ports.helpfile
!
Getting the Ports tree
! The ports source tree is available in several ways:
!
!
You can ftp the 2.2 version of it from the pub/OpenBSD/2.2 directory
! on any of the ftp mirror sites.
!
You can use AnonCVS to get the most recent
! version of it, using essentially "cvs get ports".
!
! (Note: the version of the ports tree on the 2.2 CDROM is not the most
! recent version. You likely want to get and use a newer version).
!
!
Example use of the Ports tree
! Let's say you managed to get a ports tree sitting under /usr/ports, then
! you should be able to something like this:
! OpenBSD is a fairly complete system of its own, but still there is a lot
! of software that one might want see added. However there is the problem
! on where to draw the line as to what to include, as well as the occasional
! licensing and export restriction problems. In what is supposed to be
! small stand-alone UNIX-like operating system, some things just can't be
! shipped with the system.
!
! We wanted to find a way for users to easily get software we don't provide
! and started to look around. We didn't have to look far as a sibling project,
! FreeBSD, had an excellent mechanism
! for exactly this purpose called
! "The ports collection".
!
! At first we tried to use their collection as-is, but due to
! incompatibility problems between FreeBSD and OpenBSD we decided to branch
! out and create our very own OpenBSD Ports Project using FreeBSD's as a
! starting point. This also allows us to tune the ports better to our
! system.
!
Short description and setup
!
! The ports idea is to have, for each piece of software, a Makefile that
! controls
!
!
where to fetch it,
!
how to do the fetch,
!
what it depends upon (if anything),
!
how to alter the sources (if needed),
!
and how to configure, build and install it.
!
!
! This information is kept in a directory hierarchy under the
! /usr/ports directory.
!
Getting the Ports tree
!
! The ports source tree can be retrieved via:
!
!
Anonymous CVS (see link). The command is
! essentially cvs get ports.
!
! You can also ftp the 2.2 version from the pub/OpenBSD/2.2 directory
! on any of the ftp mirror sites.
! Note: this version, also on the 2.2 CDROM, is not the most
! recent version. You likely want to get and use a newer version.
!
Example use of the Ports tree
!
! Let's say you managed to get a ports tree and you want to compile and
! install the archiving utility unzip. You should be able to
! something like:
% cd /usr/ports/archivers/unzip
% su
***************
*** 68,96 ****
# make install
# exit
! Easy, huh?
!
!
Getting ports easily
! An easy way of getting the ports (at least for now) is by ftp, in
! pub/OpenBSD/snapshots/ports.tar.gz. It is updated every night.
!
!
! Please provide either patches or enough details for repair, if you
! cannot do this, point us at the problematic port and tell us what
! fails and we shall try to fix it.
!
!
! If you are interested in helping to expand the OpenBSD ports tree
! you should first read porting.html.
! That page references the porting section of the
! FreeBSD handbook
! as well as OpenBSD specific policies and hints.
!
! If you have trouble with ports please send mail to the OpenBSD
! ports mailing list, ports@OpenBSD.ORG.
! Patches are always appreciated, but in any case please provide:
!
!
The output of uname -a
!
Your OpenBSD version, including any patches you may have applied.
!
![[OpenBSD]](images/smalltitle.gif)
! 