Annotation of www/ports.html, Revision 1.72
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1.27 brad 10: <title>OpenBSD Ports and Packages</title>
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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
1.60 jcs 43: of software that one might want to see added. However, there is the problem
44: of where to draw the line as to what to include, as well as the occasional
1.25 deraadt 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
1.63 rohee 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>
1.70 brad 97: <li><a href="http://www.openbsd.org/3.2_packages/">Packages for OpenBSD 3.2</a>
1.67 brad 98: <li><a href="http://www.openbsd.org/3.1_packages/">Packages for OpenBSD 3.1</a>
1.65 beck 99: <li><a href="http://www.openbsd.org/3.0_packages/">Packages for OpenBSD 3.0</a>
1.61 brad 100: <li><a href="http://www.openbsd.org/2.9_packages/">Packages for OpenBSD 2.9</a>
1.44 espie 101: <li><a href="http://www.openbsd.org/2.8_packages/">Packages for OpenBSD 2.8</a>
1.42 jufi 102: <li><a href="http://www.openbsd.org/2.7_packages/">Packages for OpenBSD 2.7</a>
1.40 beck 103: </ul>
1.31 espie 104: </ul>
105:
1.44 espie 106:
1.31 espie 107: Adding a package is as easy as
1.36 brad 108: <code>pkg_add pkgname.tgz</code>.
1.71 ian 109: If you are grabbing packages from a single source (a package repository),
1.39 espie 110: set PKG_PATH to that repository URL, in order to grab dependencies.
1.31 espie 111:
112: <p>
1.70 brad 113: For instance, to install the Gimp package for the 3.2 release on an i386
1.31 espie 114: machine off the ftp site (including dependencies), do:
115:
116: <pre>
1.70 brad 117: # setenv PKG_PATH ftp://ftp.openbsd.org/pub/OpenBSD/3.2/packages/i386/
118: # pkg_add ${PKG_PATH}gimp-1.2.3.tgz
1.31 espie 119: </pre>
120:
1.53 naddy 121: <h3><font color="#0000e0"><a name="stable">Ports and Packages Update for an OpenBSD Release</a></font></h3>
1.45 espie 122: <p>
123: The 2.7 release saw the introduction of a stable branch for the ports tree.
124: <p>
1.70 brad 125: For instance, to grab the stable branch for the 3.2 release:
1.45 espie 126: <pre>
127: $ cd /usr/ports
1.70 brad 128: $ cvs -q -d anoncvs@some.anon.server:/cvs up -r OPENBSD_3_2 -Pd
1.45 espie 129: </pre>
130: <p>
131: Starting with the 2.8 release, selected binary packages are also made
1.69 naddy 132: available.
1.46 espie 133: Please refer to the
1.45 espie 134: <a href="pkg-stable.html">stable packages page</a> to find out about
135: updated packages and important updates to the stable branch.
136: </p>
137: <p>
138: Package names are <strong>always</strong> changed in case of a package
139: update, to avoid any risk of confusion between a package from the release
140: and a bug-fixed package.
141: </p>
142:
1.53 naddy 143: <h3><font color="#0000e0"><a name="Manage">Managing Installed Packages</a></font></h3>
1.31 espie 144:
1.47 naddy 145: The <a href="http://www.openbsd.org/cgi-bin/man.cgi?query=packages&sektion=7&format=html">packages(7)</a>
1.31 espie 146: manual page holds useful information about ways to manage
147: installed packages, solve conflicts (files that already exist) and handle
148: dependencies.
149: <p>
1.45 espie 150: As of OpenBSD 2.8, to update a package you must:
1.31 espie 151: <ul>
1.33 espie 152: <li>Remove the old package using
1.47 naddy 153: <a href="http://www.openbsd.org/cgi-bin/man.cgi?query=pkg_delete&sektion=1&format=html">pkg_delete(1)</a>
1.33 espie 154: <li>Add the new package using
1.47 naddy 155: <a href="http://www.openbsd.org/cgi-bin/man.cgi?query=pkg_add&sektion=1&format=html">pkg_add(1)</a>
1.31 espie 156: </ul>
157: This is slightly inconvenient, as packages may trigger dependencies, and
158: you may have to remove a large subset of packages for an update.
159:
1.53 naddy 160: <h3><font color="#0000e0"><a name="Use">Using Ports</a></font></h3>
1.31 espie 161:
162: If a given package does not exist for your architecture, you may still
163: be able to compile the port. Besides, some users will want to compile
164: everything from source for various reasons.
165:
1.25 deraadt 166: <p>
1.27 brad 167: You can ftp the release version from the pub/OpenBSD/[version] (where
168: [version] is the release number) directory on any of the
169: <a href=ftp.html>ftp mirror sites</a>.
170: The release versions are the ones we ship on our CDROM, and have gone
171: through more testing than any snapshot.
1.30 espie 172: Further information is available in the
1.47 naddy 173: <a href="http://www.openbsd.org/cgi-bin/man.cgi?query=ports&sektion=7&format=html">ports(7)</a> man page.
1.30 espie 174:
1.53 naddy 175: <h3><font color="#0000e0"><a name="Life">Life Cycle of the Ports Tree</A></font></h3>
1.27 brad 176:
177: <p>
1.31 espie 178: The ports tree, like the rest of OpenBSD, is constantly changing.
1.37 marc 179: <p>
180: The current ports tree <strong>may not</strong> be used with the previous
1.59 espie 181: release. This is due to changes, typically with the port make process,
182: that require code based upon the OpenBSD-current source tree.
1.30 espie 183: <p>The ports tree works as a single entity. Updating a single directory is
184: not guaranteed to work, as package dependencies may force you to update
185: and recompile vast portions of the ports tree.
1.31 espie 186: It is strongly suggested that people don't track ports-current unless
1.30 espie 187: they're prepared to deal with various problems.
1.33 espie 188: <a href=mail.html>Mailing lists</a> such as
1.47 naddy 189: <code>ports-changes@openbsd.org</code> or
1.33 espie 190: <code>tech@openbsd.org</code> will probably be invaluable.
1.27 brad 191:
1.59 espie 192: <p>You are advised to track ports-stable on a production machine:
193: we will try to keep the stable ports tree up-to-par with respect to
194: problems, and to provide timely binary updates as well.
195:
196: <p>Note that vanishing distfiles is not an issue, as
197: ftp.openbsd.org holds the complete repository. Even changing checksums is
198: not an issue: you can issue the command
199: <pre>
200: make checksum REFETCH=true
201: </pre>
202: to make sure you are grabbing the correct distfile for your ports tree.
203:
204: For definitions of <i>current</i> and <i>stable</i>, see the
205: <a href="faq/upgrade-minifaq.html#1.1">Upgrade
206: Mini-FAQ</a>.
207:
208:
1.48 naddy 209: <p>A list of <a href="portsplus/index.html">daily changes</a> to ports
1.47 naddy 210: and ports-current is available.
211:
1.27 brad 212: <p>
1.29 espie 213: The ports-current tree can be retrieved via:
1.25 deraadt 214: <ul>
215: <li><a href=anoncvs.html>Anonymous CVS</a> (see link). The command is
216: essentially <strong>cvs get ports</strong>.
217: <li>Anonymous ftp from
218: <a href="ftp://ftp.openbsd.org/pub/OpenBSD/snapshots/ports.tar.gz">
219: ftp://ftp.openbsd.org/pub/OpenBSD/snapshots/ports.tar.gz</a>.
1.19 marc 220: This archive is updated nightly.
1.32 naddy 221: <li><a href="cvsup.html">CVSup</a>. See the example for using CVSup in
222: <a href="cvsup.html#checkout">checkout mode</a>.
1.25 deraadt 223: <li>Your web browser using the
224: <a href="http://www.openbsd.org/cgi-bin/cvsweb/ports/">CVS
1.20 marc 225: web interface</a>.
1.25 deraadt 226: </ul>
227:
1.53 naddy 228: <h3><font color="#0000e0"><a name="XFree86">Ports and XFree86</a></font></h3>
229: There is some special magic in the OpenBSD XFree86 configuration files
1.35 espie 230: that allows the ports tree to install imake-based applications under
231: /usr/local.
232:
1.53 naddy 233: <p>As of 2.9, OpenBSD ships with XFree86 4.0.3.
234: If you are using a previous distribution, together with XFree86 binaries
235: from the XFree86 project, you may need to apply the patch in
1.35 espie 236: <code>/usr/ports/infrastructure/patches/patch-xfree-4.0</code>
1.53 naddy 237: to a default binary XFree86 4.0.x distribution for it to work with the OpenBSD
1.35 espie 238: ports tree.
239:
1.55 heko 240: <h3><a name="Example"></a><font color="#0000e0">Example Use of the Ports Tree</font></h3>
1.54 lebel 241:
242: <p>
1.25 deraadt 243: Let's say you managed to get a ports tree and you want to compile and
1.33 espie 244: install the archiving utility <strong>unzip</strong>. You should be able to
1.23 espie 245: do something like this:
1.31 espie 246:
1.11 deraadt 247: <pre>
1.31 espie 248: % cd /usr/ports/archivers/unzip
249: % su
250: # make
251: # make install
252: # exit
1.11 deraadt 253: </pre>
1.25 deraadt 254:
1.31 espie 255: Easy, huh ? Especially considering all that happened in the background:
256: <ul>
257: <li>Fetch unzip sources from an ftp site,
258: <li>Check the source archive integrity,
259: <li>Extract the unzip source,
260: <li>Apply OpenBSD specific patches,
261: <li>Configure and build the program,
262: <li>Create a binary package under /usr/ports/packages,
263: <li>Install that package.
264: </ul>
1.25 deraadt 265:
266: <p>
1.61 brad 267: With OpenBSD 3.0, almost all ports automatically build
1.31 espie 268: packages when installing.
269:
270: <p>
271: As ports get built, the /usr/ports/distfiles directory gets filled with
272: program sources, and /usr/ports/packages gets filled with binary packages.
1.55 heko 273: Users with low connectivity may refer to
1.64 rohee 274: <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 275: an efficient way to grab all distfiles at once. In OpenBSD-current, you
1.46 espie 276: can use the script /usr/ports/infrastructure/fetch/clean-old to track
277: old distfiles.
1.72 ! avsm 278: Note that the OpenBSD CD only includes the ports tree and selected packages.
1.31 espie 279: If you wish to have the distfiles, you will have to get them through an
280: independent way.
1.25 deraadt 281:
1.55 heko 282: <h3><font color="#0000e0"><a name="Advanced"></a>Advanced Usage of the Ports Tree</font></h3>
283:
284: <p>
285: Ports tree has many features for the advanced user that make it a valuable
286: tool beyond basic installation. Advanced users may wish to tamper with
287: the makefiles (you should read the
1.63 rohee 288: <a href="http://www.openbsd.org/cgi-bin/man.cgi?query=make&sektion=1&format=html">make(1)</a>
1.72 ! avsm 289: manual page first) or set various variables from the make command-line or in
1.55 heko 290: <tt>/etc/mk.conf</tt>. These variables are described in detail in the
1.63 rohee 291: <a href="http://www.openbsd.org/cgi-bin/man.cgi?query=bsd.port.mk&sektion=5&format=html">bsd.port.mk(5)</a>
1.55 heko 292: manual page, and the porting documents below.
293: </p>
294:
1.53 naddy 295: <h3><font color="#0000e0"><a name="Create">Creating New Ports</a></font></h3>
1.25 deraadt 296: <p>
297: If you are interested in helping to expand the OpenBSD ports tree
298: you should first read <a href="porting.html">porting.html</a>.
1.50 naddy 299: That page references the
1.66 jufi 300: <a href="http://www.freebsd.org/doc/en_US.ISO8859-1/books/porters-handbook/index.html">
301: FreeBSD Porter's Handbook</a>
1.25 deraadt 302: as well as OpenBSD specific policies and hints.
1.56 heko 303:
304: <h3><font color="#0000e0"><a name="Lag">When a Port Is Lagging Behind the Mainstream Version</a></font></h3>
305:
306: <p>
307: The ports collection is a volunteer project. Sometimes the project simply
308: doesn't have the developer resources to keep everything up-to-date.
309: Developers pretty much pick up what they consider interesting and can
310: test in their environment. Your <a href="goals.html#funding">donations</a>
311: count for what platforms the ports can be tested on.
312: </p>
313:
314: <p>
315: Some individual ports may lag behind the mainstream versions because of this.
316: The ports collection may have a version back of a program from January while a new
317: version of the program has been released by its developers in May three months ago.
318: Often this is a conscious decision; the new version may have problems in it on
319: OpenBSD that the maintainer is trying to solve, or that have simply made the
320: application worse than the old version: OpenBSD may have different
321: <a href="goals.html">goals</a> than the mainstream developers in other projects,
322: which sometimes results in features and design or implementation choices
323: that are undesirable from OpenBSD developers' point of view. The update may also be
324: postponed because the new version is not considered a crucial update.
325: </p>
326:
327: <p>
328: If you really need a new version of a port, you should ask the <tt>MAINTAINER</tt>
329: of the port to update the port (see <a href="#Help">below</a> on how to find out who
330: the maintainer is); if you can send patches for this, all the better. To create proper
331: patches, you should refer to the <a href="porting.html">documentation on building
332: ports</a>.
333: </p>
1.25 deraadt 334:
1.53 naddy 335: <h3><font color="#0000e0"><a name="Help">Problems and Contacts</a></font></h3>
1.25 deraadt 336:
337: <p>
1.54 lebel 338: If you have trouble with an existing port, please send e-mail to the
339: port maintainer. To see who is the maintainer of the port, type, for
340: example:
341: <pre>
342: % cd /usr/ports/archivers/unzip
343: % make show VARNAME=MAINTAINER
344: </pre>
345: Alternatively, if there is no maintainer, or you can't reach
346: him/her, send mail to the OpenBSD
1.27 brad 347: ports mailing list, <a href="mailto:ports@openbsd.org">ports@openbsd.org</a>.
1.54 lebel 348: Please don't use the misc@openbsd.org mailing list for questions about ports.
1.25 deraadt 349: Corrections are always welcome, but in any case do please provide:
350: <ul>
351: <li>The output of <code>uname -a</code>,
352: <li>Your OpenBSD version, including any patches you may have applied,
353: <li>A complete description of the problem.
1.45 espie 354: </ul>
355: For ports that don't build correctly, a complete build transcript is almost
1.54 lebel 356: always required. You can use the portslogger script, found in
357: /usr/ports/infrastructure/build, for this. A sample run of portslogger
358: might be:
359:
360: <pre>
361: % cd /usr/ports/archivers/unzip
362: % su
363: # mkdir -p ~/portslogs
1.63 rohee 364: # make clean install 2>&1 | /usr/ports/infrastructure/build/portslogger \
1.54 lebel 365: ~/portslogs
366: </pre>
367:
368: After this, you should have a logfile of the build in your ~/portslogs directory
369: that you can send to the port maintainer. Also, make sure you are not using
370: any special options in your build, for example in /etc/mk.conf.
371:
372: <p>
373: Alternatively, you can
1.45 espie 374: <ul>
1.47 naddy 375: <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.
376: <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.
377: <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 378: the gcc mailing-list. It does save time if you follow their direction, and
379: provide at least the various files produced by <tt>gcc -save-temps</tt>.
1.25 deraadt 380: </ul>
381:
382: <hr>
383: <a href="index.html"><img height=24 width=24 src=back.gif border=0 alt=OpenBSD></a>
1.47 naddy 384: <a href="mailto:www@openbsd.org">www@openbsd.org</a>
1.72 ! avsm 385: <br><small>$OpenBSD: ports.html,v 1.71 2002/12/10 00:29:07 ian Exp $</small>
1.25 deraadt 386: </body>
1.11 deraadt 387: </html>
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