[BACK]Return to ports.html CVS log [TXT][DIR] Up to [local] / www

Annotation of www/ports.html, Revision 1.45

1.11      deraadt     1: <html>
1.25      deraadt     2: <head>
                      3: <meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=iso-8859-1">
                      4: <meta name="resource-type" content="document">
                      5: <meta name="description" CONTENT="How OpenBSD can make use of the FreeBSD ports">
                      6: <meta name="keywords" content="openbsd,ports">
                      7: <meta name="distribution" content="global">
                      8: <meta name="copyright" content="copyright 1997-1999 by the OpenBSD project">
1.27      brad        9: <title>OpenBSD Ports and Packages</title>
1.25      deraadt    10: <link rev="made" HREF="mailto:www@openbsd.org">
1.43      jufi       11: </head>
1.25      deraadt    12:
                     13: <body text="#000000" bgcolor="#FFFFFF" link="#23238E">
                     14:
                     15: <img height=30 width=141 src=images/smalltitle.gif alt="[OpenBSD]" >
1.30      espie      16:
1.31      espie      17: <h2><font color=#e00000>The Ports &amp; 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 &amp; 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>
1.36      brad       56: Packages look like simple <code>.tgz</code> bundles, but they should
1.33      espie      57: always be added using
                     58: <a href="http://www.openbsd.org/cgi-bin/man.cgi?query=pkg_add&sektion=1&format=html">pkg_add(1)</a>,
                     59: as there might be some extra information that only
                     60: <a href="http://www.openbsd.org/cgi-bin/man.cgi?query=pkg_add&sektion=1&format=html">pkg_add(1)</a>
                     61: knows how to handle.</font></strong>
1.36      brad       62: Tip: you can distinguish between packages and <strong>.tgz</strong> bundles
1.33      espie      63: using
                     64: <a href="http://www.openbsd.org/cgi-bin/man.cgi?query=pkg_info&sektion=1&format=html">pkg_info(1)</a>.
1.31      espie      65:
                     66: <h3><font color=#0000e0>Getting packages</font></h3>
                     67:
                     68: A large collection of pre-compiled packages is available for most common
                     69: architectures.
                     70: <ul>
1.34      jufi       71: <li>On the CD-Rom (that you can order <a href="orders.html">here</a>),
1.31      espie      72: <li>On the <a href=ftp.html>ftp mirror sites</a>.
1.40      beck       73: <li>Browsed and retrieved from the web package lists:
                     74: <ul>
1.44      espie      75: <li><a href="http://www.openbsd.org/2.8_packages/">Packages for OpenBSD 2.8</a>
1.42      jufi       76: <li><a href="http://www.openbsd.org/2.7_packages/">Packages for OpenBSD 2.7</a>
1.40      beck       77: </ul>
1.31      espie      78: </ul>
                     79:
1.44      espie      80:
1.31      espie      81: Adding a package is as easy as
1.36      brad       82: <code>pkg_add pkgname.tgz</code>.
1.31      espie      83: If you are grabbing packages off a single source (a package repository),
1.39      espie      84: set PKG_PATH to that repository URL, in order to grab dependencies.
1.31      espie      85:
                     86: <p>
1.45    ! espie      87: For instance, to install the gimp package for the 2.8 release on an i386
1.31      espie      88: machine off the ftp site (including dependencies), do:
                     89:
                     90: <pre>
1.45    ! espie      91:     # setenv PKG_PATH ftp://ftp.openbsd.org/pub/OpenBSD/2.8/packages/i386/
        !            92:     # pkg_add ${PKG_PATH}gimp-1.1.27.tgz
1.31      espie      93: </pre>
                     94:
1.45    ! espie      95: <h3><font color=#0000e0>Ports and packages update for an OpenBSD release</font></h3>
        !            96: <p>
        !            97: The 2.7 release saw the introduction of a stable branch for the ports tree.
        !            98: <p>
        !            99: For instance, to grab the stable branch for the 2.8 release:
        !           100: <pre>
        !           101:     $ cd /usr/ports
        !           102:     $ cvs -q -d anoncvs@some.anon.server:/cvs up -r OPENBSD_2_8 -Pd
        !           103: </pre>
        !           104: <p>
        !           105: Starting with the 2.8 release, selected binary packages are also made
        !           106: available.  Please refer to the
        !           107: <a href="pkg-stable.html">stable packages page</a> to find out about
        !           108: updated packages and important updates to the stable branch.
        !           109: </p>
        !           110: <p>
        !           111: Package names are <strong>always</strong> changed in case of a package
        !           112: update, to avoid any risk of confusion between a package from the release
        !           113: and a bug-fixed package.
        !           114: </p>
        !           115:
1.31      espie     116: <h3><font color=#0000e0>Managing installed packages</font></h3>
                    117:
1.33      espie     118: The <a href="http://www.openbsd.org/cgi-bin/man.cgi?query=packages&sektion=7&format=html">packages(7)</a>
1.31      espie     119: manual page holds useful information about ways to manage
                    120: installed packages, solve conflicts (files that already exist) and handle
                    121: dependencies.
                    122: <p>
1.45    ! espie     123: As of OpenBSD 2.8, to update a package you must:
1.31      espie     124: <ul>
1.33      espie     125: <li>Remove the old package using
                    126: <a href="http://www.openbsd.org/cgi-bin/man.cgi?query=pkg_delete&sektion=1&format=html">pkg_delete(1)</a>
                    127: <li>Add the new package using
                    128: <a href="http://www.openbsd.org/cgi-bin/man.cgi?query=pkg_add&sektion=1&format=html">pkg_add(1)</a>
1.31      espie     129: </ul>
                    130: This is slightly inconvenient, as packages may trigger dependencies, and
                    131: you may have to remove a large subset of packages for an update.
                    132:
                    133: <h3><font color=#0000e0>Using ports</font></h3>
                    134:
                    135: If a given package does not exist for your architecture, you may still
                    136: be able to compile the port. Besides, some users will want to compile
                    137: everything from source for various reasons.
                    138:
1.25      deraadt   139: <p>
1.27      brad      140: You can ftp the release version from the pub/OpenBSD/[version] (where
                    141: [version] is the release number) directory on any of the
                    142: <a href=ftp.html>ftp mirror sites</a>.
                    143: The release versions are the ones we ship on our CDROM, and have gone
                    144: through more testing than any snapshot.
1.30      espie     145: Further information is available in the
                    146: <a href="http://www.openbsd.org/cgi-bin/man.cgi?query=ports&sektion=7&format=html">ports(7)</a> man page.
                    147:
1.45    ! espie     148: <h3><font color=#0000e0>Life cycle of the ports tree</font></h3>
1.27      brad      149:
                    150: <p>
1.31      espie     151: The ports tree, like the rest of OpenBSD, is constantly changing.
1.30      espie     152: The normal life cycle of the ports tree is as follows:
                    153: <ul>
                    154: <li>Track the latest release of OpenBSD for a few months after the release
                    155: comes out.
                    156: <li>Switch to tracking OpenBSD-current about two months before the next
                    157: release.
                    158: </ul>
                    159: The change of status will be widely publicized on the
                    160: <a href=mail.html>Mailing lists</a>.
                    161:
1.37      marc      162: <p>
                    163: The current ports tree <strong>may not</strong> be used with the previous
                    164: release once the switch to tracking OpenBSD-current occurs.  This is due
                    165: to changes, typically with the port make process, that require code
1.45    ! espie     166: based upon the OpenBSD-current source tree.
1.30      espie     167: <p>The ports tree works as a single entity. Updating a single directory is
                    168: not guaranteed to work, as package dependencies may force you to update
                    169: and recompile vast portions of the ports tree.
1.31      espie     170: It is strongly suggested that people don't track ports-current unless
1.30      espie     171: they're prepared to deal with various problems.
1.33      espie     172: <a href=mail.html>Mailing lists</a> such as
                    173: <code>source-changes@openbsd.org</code> or
                    174: <code>tech@openbsd.org</code> will probably be invaluable.
1.27      brad      175:
                    176: <p>
1.29      espie     177: The ports-current tree can be retrieved via:
1.25      deraadt   178: <ul>
                    179: <li><a href=anoncvs.html>Anonymous CVS</a> (see link).  The command is
                    180: essentially <strong>cvs get ports</strong>.
                    181: <li>Anonymous ftp from
                    182: <a href="ftp://ftp.openbsd.org/pub/OpenBSD/snapshots/ports.tar.gz">
                    183: ftp://ftp.openbsd.org/pub/OpenBSD/snapshots/ports.tar.gz</a>.
1.19      marc      184:        This archive is updated nightly.
1.32      naddy     185: <li><a href="cvsup.html">CVSup</a>. See the example for using CVSup in
                    186:     <a href="cvsup.html#checkout">checkout mode</a>.
1.25      deraadt   187: <li>Your web browser using the
                    188: <a href="http://www.openbsd.org/cgi-bin/cvsweb/ports/">CVS
1.20      marc      189:        web interface</a>.
1.25      deraadt   190: </ul>
                    191:
1.35      espie     192: <h3><font color=#0000e0>Ports and XFree</font></h3>
                    193: There is some special magic in the OpenBSD XFree configuration files
                    194: that allows the ports tree to install imake-based applications under
                    195: /usr/local.
                    196:
                    197: <p>OpenBSD currently does not ship with XFree 4.0.x for various reasons.
1.45    ! espie     198: This ports magic does not work with the XFree 4.0.x distribution (yet).
1.35      espie     199: You will need to apply the patch in
                    200: <code>/usr/ports/infrastructure/patches/patch-xfree-4.0</code>
                    201: to a default binary XFree 4.0.x distribution for it to work with the OpenBSD
                    202: ports tree.
1.45    ! espie     203: <p>Future releases of XFree 4.0.x will probably include the necessary magic.
1.35      espie     204:
1.25      deraadt   205: <h3><font color=#0000e0>Example use of the Ports tree</font></h3>
                    206:
                    207: <p>
                    208: Let's say you managed to get a ports tree and you want to compile and
1.33      espie     209: install the archiving utility <strong>unzip</strong>.  You should be able to
1.23      espie     210:        do something like this:
1.31      espie     211:
1.11      deraadt   212: <pre>
1.31      espie     213:     % cd /usr/ports/archivers/unzip
                    214:     % su
                    215:     # make
                    216:     # make install
                    217:     # exit
1.11      deraadt   218: </pre>
1.25      deraadt   219:
1.31      espie     220: Easy, huh ? Especially considering all that happened in the background:
                    221: <ul>
                    222: <li>Fetch unzip sources from an ftp site,
                    223: <li>Check the source archive integrity,
                    224: <li>Extract the unzip source,
                    225: <li>Apply OpenBSD specific patches,
                    226: <li>Configure and build the program,
                    227: <li>Create a binary package under /usr/ports/packages,
                    228: <li>Install that package.
                    229: </ul>
1.25      deraadt   230:
                    231: <p>
1.45    ! espie     232: With OpenBSD 2.8, almost all ports automatically build
1.31      espie     233: packages when installing.
                    234:
                    235: <p>
                    236: As ports get built, the /usr/ports/distfiles directory gets filled with
                    237: program sources, and /usr/ports/packages gets filled with binary packages.
                    238: Users with low connectivity may refer to mirror-distfiles(7) for
1.45    ! espie     239: an efficient way to grab all distfiles at once.  In OpenBSD-current, you
        !           240: can use the script /usr/ports/infrastructure/fetch/clean-old to remove
        !           241: track distfiles.
1.31      espie     242: Note that the OpenBSD CD only include the ports tree and selected packages.
                    243: If you wish to have the distfiles, you will have to get them through an
                    244: independent way.
1.25      deraadt   245:
                    246: <h3><font color=#0000e0>Creating new ports</font></h3>
                    247: <p>
                    248: If you are interested in helping to expand the OpenBSD ports tree
                    249: you should first read <a href="porting.html">porting.html</a>.
                    250: That page references the porting section of the
                    251: <a href="http://www.freebsd.org/handbook/">FreeBSD handbook</a>
                    252: as well as OpenBSD specific policies and hints.
                    253:
                    254: <h3><font color=#0000e0>Problems and contacts</font></h3>
                    255:
                    256: <p>
1.31      espie     257: If you have trouble with existing ports, or need information about creating new ports,
                    258: please send e-mail to the OpenBSD
1.27      brad      259: ports mailing list, <a href="mailto:ports@openbsd.org">ports@openbsd.org</a>.
1.25      deraadt   260: Corrections are always welcome, but in any case do please provide:
                    261: <ul>
                    262: <li>The output of <code>uname -a</code>,
                    263: <li>Your OpenBSD version, including any patches you may have applied,
                    264: <li>A complete description of the problem.
1.45    ! espie     265: </ul>
        !           266: For ports that don't build correctly, a complete build transcript is almost
        !           267: always required. Some ports may have configuration issues linked to what
        !           268: is already on your machine.
        !           269: <ul>
        !           270: <li>Use <a href="http://www.openbsd.org/cgi-bin/man.cgi?query=script&sektion=1&format=html">script(1)</a> to create a complete build transcript. Don't remove the configure information.
        !           271:     <li>Attach the output of <a href="http://www.openbsd.org/cgi-bin/man.cgi?query=pkg_info&sektion=1&format=html">pkg_info(1)</a> if it seems even remotely relevant.
        !           272:     <li><a href="http://www.openbsd.org/cgi-bin/man.cgi?query=gcc&sektion=1&format=html">gcc(1)</a> internal  compiler errors do ask you to report the bug to
        !           273: the gcc mailing-list. It does save time if you follow their direction, and
        !           274: provide at least the various files produced by <tt>gcc -save-temps</tt>.
1.25      deraadt   275: </ul>
                    276:
                    277: <hr>
                    278: <a href="index.html"><img height=24 width=24 src=back.gif border=0 alt=OpenBSD></a>
                    279: <a href=mailto:www@openbsd.org>www@openbsd.org</a>
1.45    ! espie     280: <br><small>$OpenBSD: ports.html,v 1.44 2000/12/13 17:30:54 espie Exp $</small>
1.25      deraadt   281: </body>
1.11      deraadt   282: </html>