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1.27 brad 9: <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>
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
1.46 ! espie 106: available. Thanks to
! 107: <a href="mailto:naddy@openbsd.org">Christian Weisgerber</a> for
! 108: handling the hard work of coordinating the stable branch changes.
! 109: Please refer to the
1.45 espie 110: <a href="pkg-stable.html">stable packages page</a> to find out about
111: updated packages and important updates to the stable branch.
112: </p>
113: <p>
114: Package names are <strong>always</strong> changed in case of a package
115: update, to avoid any risk of confusion between a package from the release
116: and a bug-fixed package.
117: </p>
118:
1.31 espie 119: <h3><font color=#0000e0>Managing installed packages</font></h3>
120:
1.33 espie 121: The <a href="http://www.openbsd.org/cgi-bin/man.cgi?query=packages&sektion=7&format=html">packages(7)</a>
1.31 espie 122: manual page holds useful information about ways to manage
123: installed packages, solve conflicts (files that already exist) and handle
124: dependencies.
125: <p>
1.45 espie 126: As of OpenBSD 2.8, to update a package you must:
1.31 espie 127: <ul>
1.33 espie 128: <li>Remove the old package using
129: <a href="http://www.openbsd.org/cgi-bin/man.cgi?query=pkg_delete&sektion=1&format=html">pkg_delete(1)</a>
130: <li>Add the new package using
131: <a href="http://www.openbsd.org/cgi-bin/man.cgi?query=pkg_add&sektion=1&format=html">pkg_add(1)</a>
1.31 espie 132: </ul>
133: This is slightly inconvenient, as packages may trigger dependencies, and
134: you may have to remove a large subset of packages for an update.
135:
136: <h3><font color=#0000e0>Using ports</font></h3>
137:
138: If a given package does not exist for your architecture, you may still
139: be able to compile the port. Besides, some users will want to compile
140: everything from source for various reasons.
141:
1.25 deraadt 142: <p>
1.27 brad 143: You can ftp the release version from the pub/OpenBSD/[version] (where
144: [version] is the release number) directory on any of the
145: <a href=ftp.html>ftp mirror sites</a>.
146: The release versions are the ones we ship on our CDROM, and have gone
147: through more testing than any snapshot.
1.30 espie 148: Further information is available in the
149: <a href="http://www.openbsd.org/cgi-bin/man.cgi?query=ports&sektion=7&format=html">ports(7)</a> man page.
150:
1.45 espie 151: <h3><font color=#0000e0>Life cycle of the ports tree</font></h3>
1.27 brad 152:
153: <p>
1.31 espie 154: The ports tree, like the rest of OpenBSD, is constantly changing.
1.30 espie 155: The normal life cycle of the ports tree is as follows:
156: <ul>
157: <li>Track the latest release of OpenBSD for a few months after the release
158: comes out.
159: <li>Switch to tracking OpenBSD-current about two months before the next
160: release.
161: </ul>
162: The change of status will be widely publicized on the
163: <a href=mail.html>Mailing lists</a>.
164:
1.37 marc 165: <p>
166: The current ports tree <strong>may not</strong> be used with the previous
167: release once the switch to tracking OpenBSD-current occurs. This is due
168: to changes, typically with the port make process, that require code
1.45 espie 169: based upon the OpenBSD-current source tree.
1.30 espie 170: <p>The ports tree works as a single entity. Updating a single directory is
171: not guaranteed to work, as package dependencies may force you to update
172: and recompile vast portions of the ports tree.
1.31 espie 173: It is strongly suggested that people don't track ports-current unless
1.30 espie 174: they're prepared to deal with various problems.
1.33 espie 175: <a href=mail.html>Mailing lists</a> such as
176: <code>source-changes@openbsd.org</code> or
177: <code>tech@openbsd.org</code> will probably be invaluable.
1.27 brad 178:
179: <p>
1.29 espie 180: The ports-current tree can be retrieved via:
1.25 deraadt 181: <ul>
182: <li><a href=anoncvs.html>Anonymous CVS</a> (see link). The command is
183: essentially <strong>cvs get ports</strong>.
184: <li>Anonymous ftp from
185: <a href="ftp://ftp.openbsd.org/pub/OpenBSD/snapshots/ports.tar.gz">
186: ftp://ftp.openbsd.org/pub/OpenBSD/snapshots/ports.tar.gz</a>.
1.19 marc 187: This archive is updated nightly.
1.32 naddy 188: <li><a href="cvsup.html">CVSup</a>. See the example for using CVSup in
189: <a href="cvsup.html#checkout">checkout mode</a>.
1.25 deraadt 190: <li>Your web browser using the
191: <a href="http://www.openbsd.org/cgi-bin/cvsweb/ports/">CVS
1.20 marc 192: web interface</a>.
1.25 deraadt 193: </ul>
194:
1.35 espie 195: <h3><font color=#0000e0>Ports and XFree</font></h3>
196: There is some special magic in the OpenBSD XFree configuration files
197: that allows the ports tree to install imake-based applications under
198: /usr/local.
199:
200: <p>OpenBSD currently does not ship with XFree 4.0.x for various reasons.
1.45 espie 201: This ports magic does not work with the XFree 4.0.x distribution (yet).
1.35 espie 202: You will need to apply the patch in
203: <code>/usr/ports/infrastructure/patches/patch-xfree-4.0</code>
204: to a default binary XFree 4.0.x distribution for it to work with the OpenBSD
205: ports tree.
1.45 espie 206: <p>Future releases of XFree 4.0.x will probably include the necessary magic.
1.35 espie 207:
1.25 deraadt 208: <h3><font color=#0000e0>Example use of the Ports tree</font></h3>
209:
210: <p>
211: Let's say you managed to get a ports tree and you want to compile and
1.33 espie 212: install the archiving utility <strong>unzip</strong>. You should be able to
1.23 espie 213: do something like this:
1.31 espie 214:
1.11 deraadt 215: <pre>
1.31 espie 216: % cd /usr/ports/archivers/unzip
217: % su
218: # make
219: # make install
220: # exit
1.11 deraadt 221: </pre>
1.25 deraadt 222:
1.31 espie 223: Easy, huh ? Especially considering all that happened in the background:
224: <ul>
225: <li>Fetch unzip sources from an ftp site,
226: <li>Check the source archive integrity,
227: <li>Extract the unzip source,
228: <li>Apply OpenBSD specific patches,
229: <li>Configure and build the program,
230: <li>Create a binary package under /usr/ports/packages,
231: <li>Install that package.
232: </ul>
1.25 deraadt 233:
234: <p>
1.45 espie 235: With OpenBSD 2.8, almost all ports automatically build
1.31 espie 236: packages when installing.
237:
238: <p>
239: As ports get built, the /usr/ports/distfiles directory gets filled with
240: program sources, and /usr/ports/packages gets filled with binary packages.
241: Users with low connectivity may refer to mirror-distfiles(7) for
1.45 espie 242: an efficient way to grab all distfiles at once. In OpenBSD-current, you
1.46 ! espie 243: can use the script /usr/ports/infrastructure/fetch/clean-old to track
! 244: old distfiles.
1.31 espie 245: Note that the OpenBSD CD only include the ports tree and selected packages.
246: If you wish to have the distfiles, you will have to get them through an
247: independent way.
1.25 deraadt 248:
249: <h3><font color=#0000e0>Creating new ports</font></h3>
250: <p>
251: If you are interested in helping to expand the OpenBSD ports tree
252: you should first read <a href="porting.html">porting.html</a>.
253: That page references the porting section of the
254: <a href="http://www.freebsd.org/handbook/">FreeBSD handbook</a>
255: as well as OpenBSD specific policies and hints.
256:
257: <h3><font color=#0000e0>Problems and contacts</font></h3>
258:
259: <p>
1.31 espie 260: If you have trouble with existing ports, or need information about creating new ports,
261: please send e-mail to the OpenBSD
1.27 brad 262: ports mailing list, <a href="mailto:ports@openbsd.org">ports@openbsd.org</a>.
1.25 deraadt 263: Corrections are always welcome, but in any case do please provide:
264: <ul>
265: <li>The output of <code>uname -a</code>,
266: <li>Your OpenBSD version, including any patches you may have applied,
267: <li>A complete description of the problem.
1.45 espie 268: </ul>
269: For ports that don't build correctly, a complete build transcript is almost
270: always required. Some ports may have configuration issues linked to what
271: is already on your machine.
272: <ul>
273: <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.
274: <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.
275: <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
276: the gcc mailing-list. It does save time if you follow their direction, and
277: provide at least the various files produced by <tt>gcc -save-temps</tt>.
1.25 deraadt 278: </ul>
279:
280: <hr>
281: <a href="index.html"><img height=24 width=24 src=back.gif border=0 alt=OpenBSD></a>
282: <a href=mailto:www@openbsd.org>www@openbsd.org</a>
1.46 ! espie 283: <br><small>$OpenBSD: ports.html,v 1.45 2000/12/18 00:49:11 espie Exp $</small>
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