Annotation of www/ports.html, Revision 1.57
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1.30 espie 17:
1.47 naddy 18: <h2><font color="#e00000">The Ports & Packages collection</font></h2>
1.25 deraadt 19:
1.47 naddy 20: <hr>
21:
1.53 naddy 22: <h3><font color="#0000e0">Index</font></h3>
23: <ul>
24: <li><a href="#Motivation">Motivation</a></li>
25: <li><a href="#Get">Getting Packages</a></li>
26: <li><a href="#stable">Ports and Packages Update for an OpenBSD Release</a></li>
27: <li><a href="#Manage">Managing Installed Packages</a></li>
28: <li><a href="#Use">Using Ports</a></li>
29: <li><a href="#Life">Life Cycle of the Ports Tree</a></li>
30: <li><a href="#XFree86">Ports and XFree86</a></li>
1.55 heko 31: <li><a href="#Example">Example Use of the Ports Tree</a></li>
32: <li><a href="#Advanced">Advanced Usage of the Ports Tree</a></li>
1.53 naddy 33: <li><a href="#Create">Creating New Ports</a></li>
1.56 heko 34: <li><a href="#Lag">When a Port Is Lagging Behind the Mainstream Version</a></li>
1.53 naddy 35: <li><a href="#Help">Problems and Contacts</a></li>
36: </ul>
37:
38: <hr>
39:
40: <h3><font color="#0000e0"><a name="Motivation">Motivation</a></font></h3>
1.25 deraadt 41:
42: OpenBSD is a fairly complete system of its own, but still there is a lot
43: of software that one might want see added. However there is the problem
44: on where to draw the line as to what to include, as well as the occasional
45: licensing and export restriction problems. As OpenBSD is supposed to be
46: a small stand-alone UNIX-like operating system, some things just can't be
47: shipped with the system.
48:
49: <p>
1.47 naddy 50: <strong><font color="#e00000">
1.31 espie 51: The ports & packages collection does NOT go through the thorough security audit that OpenBSD follows.
52: Although we strive to keep the quality of the packages collection high, we just do not have enough human
53: resources to ensure the same level of robustness and security.
54: </font></strong>
1.25 deraadt 55:
56: <p>
1.31 espie 57: The port collection, originally borrowed from
58: <a href="http://www.freebsd.org/">FreeBSD</a>, fills this gap.
59: The concept is to have, for each third-party software, a Makefile that
1.25 deraadt 60: controls
61: <ul>
62: <li>where to fetch it,
63: <li>how to do the fetch,
64: <li>what it depends upon (if anything),
65: <li>how to alter the sources (if needed),
66: <li>and how to configure, build and install it.
67: </ul>
68: This information is kept in a directory hierarchy under the
69: /usr/ports directory.
1.31 espie 70:
71: <p>
72: Packages are the binary equivalent of ports. A compiled port becomes
1.55 heko 73: a package that can be registered into the system using
74: <a href="http://www.openbsd.org/cgi-bin/man.cgi?query=pkg_add&sektion=1&format=html">pkg_add(1)</a>
1.31 espie 75:
76: <p>
1.47 naddy 77: <strong><font color="#e00000">
1.36 brad 78: Packages look like simple <code>.tgz</code> bundles, but they should
1.33 espie 79: always be added using
1.47 naddy 80: <a href="http://www.openbsd.org/cgi-bin/man.cgi?query=pkg_add&sektion=1&format=html">pkg_add(1)</a>,
1.33 espie 81: as there might be some extra information that only
1.47 naddy 82: <a href="http://www.openbsd.org/cgi-bin/man.cgi?query=pkg_add&sektion=1&format=html">pkg_add(1)</a>
1.33 espie 83: knows how to handle.</font></strong>
1.36 brad 84: Tip: you can distinguish between packages and <strong>.tgz</strong> bundles
1.33 espie 85: using
1.47 naddy 86: <a href="http://www.openbsd.org/cgi-bin/man.cgi?query=pkg_info&sektion=1&format=html">pkg_info(1)</a>.
1.31 espie 87:
1.53 naddy 88: <h3><font color="#0000e0"><a name="Get">Getting Packages</a></font></h3>
1.31 espie 89:
90: A large collection of pre-compiled packages is available for most common
91: architectures.
92: <ul>
1.34 jufi 93: <li>On the CD-Rom (that you can order <a href="orders.html">here</a>),
1.31 espie 94: <li>On the <a href=ftp.html>ftp mirror sites</a>.
1.40 beck 95: <li>Browsed and retrieved from the web package lists:
96: <ul>
1.44 espie 97: <li><a href="http://www.openbsd.org/2.8_packages/">Packages for OpenBSD 2.8</a>
1.42 jufi 98: <li><a href="http://www.openbsd.org/2.7_packages/">Packages for OpenBSD 2.7</a>
1.40 beck 99: </ul>
1.31 espie 100: </ul>
101:
1.44 espie 102:
1.31 espie 103: Adding a package is as easy as
1.36 brad 104: <code>pkg_add pkgname.tgz</code>.
1.31 espie 105: If you are grabbing packages off a single source (a package repository),
1.39 espie 106: set PKG_PATH to that repository URL, in order to grab dependencies.
1.31 espie 107:
108: <p>
1.52 brad 109: For instance, to install the Gimp package for the 2.9 release on an i386
1.31 espie 110: machine off the ftp site (including dependencies), do:
111:
112: <pre>
1.51 jufi 113: # setenv PKG_PATH ftp://ftp.openbsd.org/pub/OpenBSD/2.9/packages/i386/
1.52 brad 114: # pkg_add ${PKG_PATH}gimp-1.2.1.tgz
1.31 espie 115: </pre>
116:
1.53 naddy 117: <h3><font color="#0000e0"><a name="stable">Ports and Packages Update for an OpenBSD Release</a></font></h3>
1.45 espie 118: <p>
119: The 2.7 release saw the introduction of a stable branch for the ports tree.
120: <p>
1.51 jufi 121: For instance, to grab the stable branch for the 2.9 release:
1.45 espie 122: <pre>
123: $ cd /usr/ports
1.51 jufi 124: $ cvs -q -d anoncvs@some.anon.server:/cvs up -r OPENBSD_2_9 -Pd
1.45 espie 125: </pre>
126: <p>
127: Starting with the 2.8 release, selected binary packages are also made
1.46 espie 128: available. Thanks to
129: <a href="mailto:naddy@openbsd.org">Christian Weisgerber</a> for
130: handling the hard work of coordinating the stable branch changes.
131: Please refer to the
1.45 espie 132: <a href="pkg-stable.html">stable packages page</a> to find out about
133: updated packages and important updates to the stable branch.
134: </p>
135: <p>
136: Package names are <strong>always</strong> changed in case of a package
137: update, to avoid any risk of confusion between a package from the release
138: and a bug-fixed package.
139: </p>
140:
1.53 naddy 141: <h3><font color="#0000e0"><a name="Manage">Managing Installed Packages</a></font></h3>
1.31 espie 142:
1.47 naddy 143: The <a href="http://www.openbsd.org/cgi-bin/man.cgi?query=packages&sektion=7&format=html">packages(7)</a>
1.31 espie 144: manual page holds useful information about ways to manage
145: installed packages, solve conflicts (files that already exist) and handle
146: dependencies.
147: <p>
1.45 espie 148: As of OpenBSD 2.8, to update a package you must:
1.31 espie 149: <ul>
1.33 espie 150: <li>Remove the old package using
1.47 naddy 151: <a href="http://www.openbsd.org/cgi-bin/man.cgi?query=pkg_delete&sektion=1&format=html">pkg_delete(1)</a>
1.33 espie 152: <li>Add the new package using
1.47 naddy 153: <a href="http://www.openbsd.org/cgi-bin/man.cgi?query=pkg_add&sektion=1&format=html">pkg_add(1)</a>
1.31 espie 154: </ul>
155: This is slightly inconvenient, as packages may trigger dependencies, and
156: you may have to remove a large subset of packages for an update.
157:
1.53 naddy 158: <h3><font color="#0000e0"><a name="Use">Using Ports</a></font></h3>
1.31 espie 159:
160: If a given package does not exist for your architecture, you may still
161: be able to compile the port. Besides, some users will want to compile
162: everything from source for various reasons.
163:
1.25 deraadt 164: <p>
1.27 brad 165: You can ftp the release version from the pub/OpenBSD/[version] (where
166: [version] is the release number) directory on any of the
167: <a href=ftp.html>ftp mirror sites</a>.
168: The release versions are the ones we ship on our CDROM, and have gone
169: through more testing than any snapshot.
1.30 espie 170: Further information is available in the
1.47 naddy 171: <a href="http://www.openbsd.org/cgi-bin/man.cgi?query=ports&sektion=7&format=html">ports(7)</a> man page.
1.30 espie 172:
1.53 naddy 173: <h3><font color="#0000e0"><a name="Life">Life Cycle of the Ports Tree</A></font></h3>
1.27 brad 174:
175: <p>
1.31 espie 176: The ports tree, like the rest of OpenBSD, is constantly changing.
1.30 espie 177: The normal life cycle of the ports tree is as follows:
178: <ul>
179: <li>Track the latest release of OpenBSD for a few months after the release
180: comes out.
181: <li>Switch to tracking OpenBSD-current about two months before the next
182: release.
183: </ul>
184: The change of status will be widely publicized on the
1.57 ! heko 185: <a href=mail.html>mailing lists</a>. As of OpenBSD 2.9, the ports
! 186: tree also gets tagged before the switch. If you're running a <i>stable</i>
! 187: system, you can update to the last `correct' experimental ports tree that
! 188: works on your system as follows:
! 189: <pre>
! 190: # <strong>cvs -q up -rOPENBSD_2_9_TRACKING_SWITCH -P ports</strong>
! 191: </pre>
! 192: For definitions of <i>current</i> and <i>stable</i>, see the
! 193: <a href="faq/upgrade-minifaq.html#1.1">Upgrade
! 194: Mini-FAQ</a>.
1.30 espie 195:
1.37 marc 196: <p>
197: The current ports tree <strong>may not</strong> be used with the previous
198: release once the switch to tracking OpenBSD-current occurs. This is due
199: to changes, typically with the port make process, that require code
1.55 heko 200: based upon the OpenBSD-current source tree. This switch will be announced
201: on the <a href="mail.html"><tt>ports@openbsd.org</tt> mailing list</a>.
1.30 espie 202: <p>The ports tree works as a single entity. Updating a single directory is
203: not guaranteed to work, as package dependencies may force you to update
204: and recompile vast portions of the ports tree.
1.31 espie 205: It is strongly suggested that people don't track ports-current unless
1.30 espie 206: they're prepared to deal with various problems.
1.33 espie 207: <a href=mail.html>Mailing lists</a> such as
1.47 naddy 208: <code>ports-changes@openbsd.org</code> or
1.33 espie 209: <code>tech@openbsd.org</code> will probably be invaluable.
1.27 brad 210:
1.48 naddy 211: <p>A list of <a href="portsplus/index.html">daily changes</a> to ports
1.47 naddy 212: and ports-current is available.
213:
1.27 brad 214: <p>
1.29 espie 215: The ports-current tree can be retrieved via:
1.25 deraadt 216: <ul>
217: <li><a href=anoncvs.html>Anonymous CVS</a> (see link). The command is
218: essentially <strong>cvs get ports</strong>.
219: <li>Anonymous ftp from
220: <a href="ftp://ftp.openbsd.org/pub/OpenBSD/snapshots/ports.tar.gz">
221: ftp://ftp.openbsd.org/pub/OpenBSD/snapshots/ports.tar.gz</a>.
1.19 marc 222: This archive is updated nightly.
1.32 naddy 223: <li><a href="cvsup.html">CVSup</a>. See the example for using CVSup in
224: <a href="cvsup.html#checkout">checkout mode</a>.
1.25 deraadt 225: <li>Your web browser using the
226: <a href="http://www.openbsd.org/cgi-bin/cvsweb/ports/">CVS
1.20 marc 227: web interface</a>.
1.25 deraadt 228: </ul>
229:
1.53 naddy 230: <h3><font color="#0000e0"><a name="XFree86">Ports and XFree86</a></font></h3>
231: There is some special magic in the OpenBSD XFree86 configuration files
1.35 espie 232: that allows the ports tree to install imake-based applications under
233: /usr/local.
234:
1.53 naddy 235: <p>As of 2.9, OpenBSD ships with XFree86 4.0.3.
236: If you are using a previous distribution, together with XFree86 binaries
237: from the XFree86 project, you may need to apply the patch in
1.35 espie 238: <code>/usr/ports/infrastructure/patches/patch-xfree-4.0</code>
1.53 naddy 239: to a default binary XFree86 4.0.x distribution for it to work with the OpenBSD
1.35 espie 240: ports tree.
241:
1.55 heko 242: <h3><a name="Example"></a><font color="#0000e0">Example Use of the Ports Tree</font></h3>
1.54 lebel 243:
244: <p>
1.25 deraadt 245: Let's say you managed to get a ports tree and you want to compile and
1.33 espie 246: install the archiving utility <strong>unzip</strong>. You should be able to
1.23 espie 247: do something like this:
1.31 espie 248:
1.11 deraadt 249: <pre>
1.31 espie 250: % cd /usr/ports/archivers/unzip
251: % su
252: # make
253: # make install
254: # exit
1.11 deraadt 255: </pre>
1.25 deraadt 256:
1.31 espie 257: Easy, huh ? Especially considering all that happened in the background:
258: <ul>
259: <li>Fetch unzip sources from an ftp site,
260: <li>Check the source archive integrity,
261: <li>Extract the unzip source,
262: <li>Apply OpenBSD specific patches,
263: <li>Configure and build the program,
264: <li>Create a binary package under /usr/ports/packages,
265: <li>Install that package.
266: </ul>
1.25 deraadt 267:
268: <p>
1.51 jufi 269: With OpenBSD 2.9, almost all ports automatically build
1.31 espie 270: packages when installing.
271:
272: <p>
273: As ports get built, the /usr/ports/distfiles directory gets filled with
274: program sources, and /usr/ports/packages gets filled with binary packages.
1.55 heko 275: Users with low connectivity may refer to
276: <a href="http://www.openbsd.org/cgi-bin/man.cgi?query=mirroring-ports&sektion=7&format=html">mirroring-ports(7)</a> for
1.45 espie 277: an efficient way to grab all distfiles at once. In OpenBSD-current, you
1.46 espie 278: can use the script /usr/ports/infrastructure/fetch/clean-old to track
279: old distfiles.
1.31 espie 280: Note that the OpenBSD CD only include the ports tree and selected packages.
281: If you wish to have the distfiles, you will have to get them through an
282: independent way.
1.25 deraadt 283:
1.55 heko 284: <h3><font color="#0000e0"><a name="Advanced"></a>Advanced Usage of the Ports Tree</font></h3>
285:
286: <p>
287: Ports tree has many features for the advanced user that make it a valuable
288: tool beyond basic installation. Advanced users may wish to tamper with
289: the makefiles (you should read the
290: <a href="http://www.openbsd.org/cgi-bin/man.cgi?query=make&sektion=1&format=html">make(1)</a>
291: manual page first) or set various variables from the make commandline or in
292: <tt>/etc/mk.conf</tt>. These variables are described in detail in the
293: <a href="http://www.openbsd.org/cgi-bin/man.cgi?query=bsd.port.mk&sektion=5&format=html">bsd.port.mk(5)</a>
294: manual page, and the porting documents below.
295: </p>
296:
1.53 naddy 297: <h3><font color="#0000e0"><a name="Create">Creating New Ports</a></font></h3>
1.25 deraadt 298: <p>
299: If you are interested in helping to expand the OpenBSD ports tree
300: you should first read <a href="porting.html">porting.html</a>.
1.50 naddy 301: That page references the
302: <a href="http://www.freebsd.org/porters-handbook/">FreeBSD Porter's Handbook</a>
1.25 deraadt 303: as well as OpenBSD specific policies and hints.
1.56 heko 304:
305: <h3><font color="#0000e0"><a name="Lag">When a Port Is Lagging Behind the Mainstream Version</a></font></h3>
306:
307: <p>
308: The ports collection is a volunteer project. Sometimes the project simply
309: doesn't have the developer resources to keep everything up-to-date.
310: Developers pretty much pick up what they consider interesting and can
311: test in their environment. Your <a href="goals.html#funding">donations</a>
312: count for what platforms the ports can be tested on.
313: </p>
314:
315: <p>
316: Some individual ports may lag behind the mainstream versions because of this.
317: The ports collection may have a version back of a program from January while a new
318: version of the program has been released by its developers in May three months ago.
319: Often this is a conscious decision; the new version may have problems in it on
320: OpenBSD that the maintainer is trying to solve, or that have simply made the
321: application worse than the old version: OpenBSD may have different
322: <a href="goals.html">goals</a> than the mainstream developers in other projects,
323: which sometimes results in features and design or implementation choices
324: that are undesirable from OpenBSD developers' point of view. The update may also be
325: postponed because the new version is not considered a crucial update.
326: </p>
327:
328: <p>
329: If you really need a new version of a port, you should ask the <tt>MAINTAINER</tt>
330: of the port to update the port (see <a href="#Help">below</a> on how to find out who
331: the maintainer is); if you can send patches for this, all the better. To create proper
332: patches, you should refer to the <a href="porting.html">documentation on building
333: ports</a>.
334: </p>
1.25 deraadt 335:
1.53 naddy 336: <h3><font color="#0000e0"><a name="Help">Problems and Contacts</a></font></h3>
1.25 deraadt 337:
338: <p>
1.54 lebel 339: If you have trouble with an existing port, please send e-mail to the
340: port maintainer. To see who is the maintainer of the port, type, for
341: example:
342: <pre>
343: % cd /usr/ports/archivers/unzip
344: % make show VARNAME=MAINTAINER
345: </pre>
346: Alternatively, if there is no maintainer, or you can't reach
347: him/her, send mail to the OpenBSD
1.27 brad 348: ports mailing list, <a href="mailto:ports@openbsd.org">ports@openbsd.org</a>.
1.54 lebel 349: Please don't use the misc@openbsd.org mailing list for questions about ports.
1.25 deraadt 350: Corrections are always welcome, but in any case do please provide:
351: <ul>
352: <li>The output of <code>uname -a</code>,
353: <li>Your OpenBSD version, including any patches you may have applied,
354: <li>A complete description of the problem.
1.45 espie 355: </ul>
356: For ports that don't build correctly, a complete build transcript is almost
1.54 lebel 357: always required. You can use the portslogger script, found in
358: /usr/ports/infrastructure/build, for this. A sample run of portslogger
359: might be:
360:
361: <pre>
362: % cd /usr/ports/archivers/unzip
363: % su
364: # mkdir -p ~/portslogs
365: # make clean install 2>&1 | /usr/ports/infrastructure/build/portslogger \
366: ~/portslogs
367: </pre>
368:
369: After this, you should have a logfile of the build in your ~/portslogs directory
370: that you can send to the port maintainer. Also, make sure you are not using
371: any special options in your build, for example in /etc/mk.conf.
372:
373: <p>
374: Alternatively, you can
1.45 espie 375: <ul>
1.47 naddy 376: <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.
377: <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.
378: <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
1.45 espie 379: the gcc mailing-list. It does save time if you follow their direction, and
380: provide at least the various files produced by <tt>gcc -save-temps</tt>.
1.25 deraadt 381: </ul>
382:
383: <hr>
384: <a href="index.html"><img height=24 width=24 src=back.gif border=0 alt=OpenBSD></a>
1.47 naddy 385: <a href="mailto:www@openbsd.org">www@openbsd.org</a>
1.55 heko 386: <br><small>$OpenBSD$</small>
1.25 deraadt 387: </body>
1.11 deraadt 388: </html>
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