Annotation of www/ports.html, Revision 1.32
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1.27 brad 10: <title>OpenBSD Ports and Packages</title>
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1.30 espie 16:
1.31 espie 17: <h2><font color=#e00000>The Ports & Packages collection</font><hr></h2>
1.25 deraadt 18:
1.31 espie 19: <h3><font color=#0000e0>Motivation</font></h3>
1.25 deraadt 20:
21: OpenBSD is a fairly complete system of its own, but still there is a lot
22: of software that one might want see added. However there is the problem
23: on where to draw the line as to what to include, as well as the occasional
24: licensing and export restriction problems. As OpenBSD is supposed to be
25: a small stand-alone UNIX-like operating system, some things just can't be
26: shipped with the system.
27:
28: <p>
1.31 espie 29: <strong><font color=#e00000>
30: The ports & packages collection does NOT go through the thorough security audit that OpenBSD follows.
31: Although we strive to keep the quality of the packages collection high, we just do not have enough human
32: resources to ensure the same level of robustness and security.
33: </font></strong>
1.25 deraadt 34:
35: <p>
1.31 espie 36: The port collection, originally borrowed from
37: <a href="http://www.freebsd.org/">FreeBSD</a>, fills this gap.
38: The concept is to have, for each third-party software, a Makefile that
1.25 deraadt 39: controls
40: <ul>
41: <li>where to fetch it,
42: <li>how to do the fetch,
43: <li>what it depends upon (if anything),
44: <li>how to alter the sources (if needed),
45: <li>and how to configure, build and install it.
46: </ul>
47: This information is kept in a directory hierarchy under the
48: /usr/ports directory.
1.31 espie 49:
50: <p>
51: Packages are the binary equivalent of ports. A compiled port becomes
52: a package that can be registered into the system using pkg_add(1).
53:
54: <p>
55: <strong><font color=#e00000>
56: Packages look like simple <code>.tar.gz</code> bundles, but they should always
57: be added using pkg_add(1), as there might be some extra information that only
58: pkg_add(1) knows how to handle.</font></strong>
59: Tip: you can distinguish between packages and .tar.gz bundles using pkg_info(1).
60:
61: <h3><font color=#0000e0>Getting packages</font></h3>
62:
63: A large collection of pre-compiled packages is available for most common
64: architectures.
65: <ul>
66: <li>On the CD-Rom (that you can pre-order <a href="orders.html">here</a>),
67: <li>On the <a href=ftp.html>ftp mirror sites</a>.
68: </ul>
69:
70: Adding a package is as easy as
71: <code>pkg_add pkgname.tar.gz</code>.
72: If you are grabbing packages off a single source (a package repository),
73: set PKG_PATH to that repository URL.
74:
75: <p>
76: For instance, to install the gimp package for the 2.7 release on an i386
77: machine off the ftp site (including dependencies), do:
78:
79: <pre>
80: # setenv PKG_PATH ftp://ftp.openbsd.org/pub/OpenBSD/2.7/packages/i386/
81: # pkg_add gimp-1.17.tar.gz
82: </pre>
83:
84: <h3><font color=#0000e0>Managing installed packages</font></h3>
85:
86: The <a href="http://www.openbsd.org/cgi-bin/man.cgi?query=packages&sektion=7&format=html">packages(7)</a>.
87: manual page holds useful information about ways to manage
88: installed packages, solve conflicts (files that already exist) and handle
89: dependencies.
90: <p>
91: As of OpenBSD 2.7, to update a package you must:
92: <ul>
93: <li>Remove the old package using pkg_delete(1)
94: <li>Add the new package using pkg_add(1)
95: </ul>
96: This is slightly inconvenient, as packages may trigger dependencies, and
97: you may have to remove a large subset of packages for an update.
98:
99: <h3><font color=#0000e0>Using ports</font></h3>
100:
101: If a given package does not exist for your architecture, you may still
102: be able to compile the port. Besides, some users will want to compile
103: everything from source for various reasons.
104:
1.25 deraadt 105: <p>
1.27 brad 106: You can ftp the release version from the pub/OpenBSD/[version] (where
107: [version] is the release number) directory on any of the
108: <a href=ftp.html>ftp mirror sites</a>.
109: The release versions are the ones we ship on our CDROM, and have gone
110: through more testing than any snapshot.
1.30 espie 111: Further information is available in the
112: <a href="http://www.openbsd.org/cgi-bin/man.cgi?query=ports&sektion=7&format=html">ports(7)</a> man page.
113:
114: <h3><font color=#0000e0>Ports update for an OpenBSD release</font></h3>
1.27 brad 115:
116: <p>
1.31 espie 117: The ports tree, like the rest of OpenBSD, is constantly changing.
1.30 espie 118: The normal life cycle of the ports tree is as follows:
119: <ul>
120: <li>Track the latest release of OpenBSD for a few months after the release
121: comes out.
122: <li>Switch to tracking OpenBSD-current about two months before the next
123: release.
124: </ul>
125: The change of status will be widely publicized on the
126: <a href=mail.html>Mailing lists</a>.
127:
128: <p>The ports tree works as a single entity. Updating a single directory is
129: not guaranteed to work, as package dependencies may force you to update
130: and recompile vast portions of the ports tree.
1.31 espie 131: It is strongly suggested that people don't track ports-current unless
1.30 espie 132: they're prepared to deal with various problems.
1.29 espie 133: <a href=mail.html>Mailing lists</a> such as source-changes or tech will
134: probably be invaluable.
1.27 brad 135:
136: <p>
1.29 espie 137: The ports-current tree can be retrieved via:
1.25 deraadt 138: <ul>
139: <li><a href=anoncvs.html>Anonymous CVS</a> (see link). The command is
140: essentially <strong>cvs get ports</strong>.
141: <li>Anonymous ftp from
142: <a href="ftp://ftp.openbsd.org/pub/OpenBSD/snapshots/ports.tar.gz">
143: ftp://ftp.openbsd.org/pub/OpenBSD/snapshots/ports.tar.gz</a>.
1.19 marc 144: This archive is updated nightly.
1.32 ! naddy 145: <li><a href="cvsup.html">CVSup</a>. See the example for using CVSup in
! 146: <a href="cvsup.html#checkout">checkout mode</a>.
1.25 deraadt 147: <li>Your web browser using the
148: <a href="http://www.openbsd.org/cgi-bin/cvsweb/ports/">CVS
1.20 marc 149: web interface</a>.
1.25 deraadt 150: </ul>
151:
152: <h3><font color=#0000e0>Example use of the Ports tree</font></h3>
153:
154: <p>
155: Let's say you managed to get a ports tree and you want to compile and
156: install the archiving utility <code>unzip</code>. You should be able to
1.23 espie 157: do something like this:
1.31 espie 158:
1.11 deraadt 159: <pre>
1.31 espie 160: % cd /usr/ports/archivers/unzip
161: % su
162: # make
163: # make install
164: # exit
1.11 deraadt 165: </pre>
1.25 deraadt 166:
1.31 espie 167: Easy, huh ? Especially considering all that happened in the background:
168: <ul>
169: <li>Fetch unzip sources from an ftp site,
170: <li>Check the source archive integrity,
171: <li>Extract the unzip source,
172: <li>Apply OpenBSD specific patches,
173: <li>Configure and build the program,
174: <li>Create a binary package under /usr/ports/packages,
175: <li>Install that package.
176: </ul>
1.25 deraadt 177:
178: <p>
1.31 espie 179: In OpenBSD 2.7, a large proportion of the ports automatically build
180: packages when installing.
181: In OpenBSD current, almost all ports follow that standard.
182:
183: <p>
184: As ports get built, the /usr/ports/distfiles directory gets filled with
185: program sources, and /usr/ports/packages gets filled with binary packages.
186: Users with low connectivity may refer to mirror-distfiles(7) for
187: an efficient way to grab all distfiles at once.
188: Note that the OpenBSD CD only include the ports tree and selected packages.
189: If you wish to have the distfiles, you will have to get them through an
190: independent way.
1.25 deraadt 191:
192: <h3><font color=#0000e0>Creating new ports</font></h3>
193: <p>
194: If you are interested in helping to expand the OpenBSD ports tree
195: you should first read <a href="porting.html">porting.html</a>.
196: That page references the porting section of the
197: <a href="http://www.freebsd.org/handbook/">FreeBSD handbook</a>
198: as well as OpenBSD specific policies and hints.
199:
200: <h3><font color=#0000e0>Problems and contacts</font></h3>
201:
202: <p>
1.31 espie 203: If you have trouble with existing ports, or need information about creating new ports,
204: please send e-mail to the OpenBSD
1.27 brad 205: ports mailing list, <a href="mailto:ports@openbsd.org">ports@openbsd.org</a>.
1.25 deraadt 206: Corrections are always welcome, but in any case do please provide:
207: <ul>
208: <li>The output of <code>uname -a</code>,
209: <li>Your OpenBSD version, including any patches you may have applied,
210: <li>A complete description of the problem.
211:
212: </ul>
213:
214: <hr>
215: <a href="index.html"><img height=24 width=24 src=back.gif border=0 alt=OpenBSD></a>
216: <a href=mailto:www@openbsd.org>www@openbsd.org</a>
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