Annotation of www/ports.html, Revision 1.21
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1.21 ! pauls 19: <img height=30 width=141 src=images/smalltitle.gif alt="[OpenBSD]" >
1.19 marc 20: <h2><font color=#e00000>OpenBSD ports mechanism</font></H2>
21: <h3><font color=#0000e0>History</font></h3>
22: <p>
23: OpenBSD is a fairly complete system of its own, but still there is a lot
24: of software that one might want see added. However there is the problem
25: on where to draw the line as to what to include, as well as the occasional
26: licensing and export restriction problems. In what is supposed to be
27: small stand-alone UNIX-like operating system, some things just can't be
28: shipped with the system.
29: <p>
30: We wanted to find a way for users to easily get software we don't provide
31: and started to look around. We didn't have to look far as a sibling project,
32: <a href="http://www.freebsd.org/">FreeBSD</a>, had an excellent mechanism
33: for exactly this purpose called
34: <a href="http://www.freebsd.org/ports/">"The ports collection"</a>.
35: <p>
36: At first we tried to use their collection as-is, but due to
37: incompatibility problems between FreeBSD and OpenBSD we decided to branch
38: out and create our very own OpenBSD Ports Project using FreeBSD's as a
39: starting point. This also allows us to tune the ports better to our
40: system.
41: <h3><font color=#0000e0>Short description and setup</font></h3>
42: <p>
43: The ports idea is to have, for each piece of software, a Makefile that
44: controls
45: <ul>
46: <li>where to fetch it,
47: <li>how to do the fetch,
48: <li>what it depends upon (if anything),
49: <li>how to alter the sources (if needed),
50: <li>and how to configure, build and install it.
51: </ul>
52: <p>
53: This information is kept in a directory hierarchy under the
54: /usr/ports directory.
55: <h3><font color=#0000e0>Getting the Ports tree</font></h3>
56: <p>
57: The ports source tree can be retrieved via:
58: <ul>
59: <li><a href=anoncvs.html>Anonymous CVS</a> (see link). The command is
60: essentially <strong>cvs get ports</strong>.
61: <li>Anonymous ftp from
62: <a href="ftp://ftp.openbsd.org/pub/OpenBSD/snapshots/ports.tar.gz">
63: ftp://ftp.openbsd.org/pub/OpenBSD/snapshots/ports.tar.gz</a>.
64: This archive is updated nightly.
1.20 marc 65: <li>Your web browser using the
66: <a href="http://www.openbsd.org/cgi-bin/cvsweb/ports/">CVS
67: web interface</a>.
1.19 marc 68: </ul>
69: <p>
70: You can also ftp the 2.2 version from the pub/OpenBSD/2.2 directory
71: on any of the <a href=ftp.html>ftp mirror sites</a>.
72: Note: this version, also on the 2.2 CDROM, is not the most
73: recent version. You likely want to get and use a newer version.
74: <h3><font color=#0000e0>Example use of the Ports tree</font></h3>
75: <p>
76: Let's say you managed to get a ports tree and you want to compile and
77: install the archiving utility <code>unzip</code>. You should be able to
78: something like:
1.11 deraadt 79: <pre>
1.10 deraadt 80: % cd /usr/ports/archivers/unzip
81: % su
1.17 joey 82: # make
1.10 deraadt 83: # make install
84: # exit
1.11 deraadt 85: </pre>
1.19 marc 86: Easy, huh?
1.20 marc 87: <h3><font color=#0000e0>Port status information</font></h3>
88: <p>
89: The <a href="portstat.html">ports status page</a> is updated as
90: team members add new ports and verify existing ports. Existing
91: ports are continually verified to validate source availability and
92: proper operation with the current OpenBSD sources. The page notes
93: the date last checked and the nature of any change. This is a new
94: resource that is not yet complete. If you have any information to
95: add to the status page please send it to
96: <a href="mailto:ports@openbsd.org">ports@OpenBSD.ORG</a>.
1.19 marc 97: <h3><font color=#0000e0>Creating new ports</font></h3>
98: <p>
99: If you are interested in helping to expand the OpenBSD ports tree
100: you should first read <a href="porting.html">porting.html</a>.
101: That page references the porting section of the
102: <a href="http://www.freebsd.org/handbook/">FreeBSD handbook</a>
103: as well as OpenBSD specific policies and hints.
104: <h3><font color=#0000e0>Problems and contacts</font></h3>
105: <p>
106: If you have trouble with ports please send mail to the OpenBSD
107: ports mailing list, <a href="mailto:ports@openbsd.org">ports@OpenBSD.ORG</a>.
108: Patches are always appreciated, but in any case please provide:
109: <ul>
110: <li>The output of <code>uname -a</code>
111: <li>Your OpenBSD version, including any patches you may have applied.
112: <li>A complete description of the problem.
113: </ul>
114: <hr>
1.21 ! pauls 115: <a href="index.html"><img height=24 width=24 src=back.gif border=0 alt=OpenBSD></a>
1.19 marc 116: <a href=mailto:www@openbsd.org>www@openbsd.org</a>
1.21 ! pauls 117: <br><small>$OpenBSD: ports.html,v 1.20 1998/03/04 20:13:08 marc Exp $</small>
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