Annotation of www/ports.html, Revision 1.90
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1.30 espie 17:
1.88 nick 18: <h2><font color="#e00000">The Ports & Packages collection</font></h2>
1.25 deraadt 19:
1.47 naddy 20: <hr>
21:
1.88 nick 22: <h3><font color="#0000e0">Index</font></h3>
1.53 naddy 23: <ul>
1.88 nick 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="#X">Ports and the X Window System</a></li>
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>
33: <li><a href="#Create">Creating New Ports</a></li>
34: <li><a href="#Lag">When a Port Is Lagging Behind the Mainstream Version</a></li>
35: <li><a href="#Help">Problems and Contacts</a></li>
1.53 naddy 36: </ul>
37:
38: <hr>
39:
1.88 nick 40: <h3><font color="#0000e0"><a name="Motivation">Motivation</a></font></h3>
1.25 deraadt 41:
1.88 nick 42: OpenBSD is a fairly complete system of its own, but still there is a lot
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
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.
1.25 deraadt 48:
49: <p>
1.47 naddy 50: <strong><font color="#e00000">
1.88 nick 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.
1.31 espie 54: </font></strong>
1.25 deraadt 55:
56: <p>
1.88 nick 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
60: controls
1.25 deraadt 61: <ul>
1.88 nick 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.
1.25 deraadt 67: </ul>
1.88 nick 68: This information is kept in a directory hierarchy under the
69: /usr/ports directory.
1.31 espie 70:
71: <p>
1.88 nick 72: Packages are the binary equivalent of ports. A compiled port becomes
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">
1.88 nick 78: Packages look like simple <code>.tgz</code> bundles, but they should
79: always be added using
80: <a href="http://www.openbsd.org/cgi-bin/man.cgi?query=pkg_add&sektion=1&format=html">pkg_add(1)</a>,
81: as there might be some extra information that only
82: <a href="http://www.openbsd.org/cgi-bin/man.cgi?query=pkg_add&sektion=1&format=html">pkg_add(1)</a>
83: knows how to handle.</font></strong>
84: Tip: you can distinguish between packages and <strong>.tgz</strong> bundles
85: using
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:
1.88 nick 88: <h3><font color="#0000e0"><a name="Get">Getting Packages</a></font></h3>
1.31 espie 89:
1.88 nick 90: A large collection of pre-compiled packages is available for most common
91: architectures.
1.31 espie 92: <ul>
1.88 nick 93: <li>On the CD-Rom (that you can order <a href="orders.html">here</a>),
94: <li>On the <a href=ftp.html>ftp mirror sites</a>.
95: <li>Browsed and retrieved from the web package lists:
1.40 beck 96: <ul>
1.89 pvalchev 97: <li><a href="http://www.openbsd.org/4.0_packages/">Packages for OpenBSD 4.0</a>
1.88 nick 98: <li><a href="http://www.openbsd.org/3.9_packages/">Packages for OpenBSD 3.9</a>
99: <li><a href="http://www.openbsd.org/3.8_packages/">Packages for OpenBSD 3.8</a>
1.40 beck 100: </ul>
1.31 espie 101: </ul>
102:
1.44 espie 103:
1.88 nick 104: Adding a package is as easy as
105: <code>pkg_add pkgname.tgz</code>.
106: If you are grabbing packages from a single source (a package repository),
107: set PKG_PATH to that repository URL, in order to grab dependencies.
1.31 espie 108:
109: <p>
1.90 ! steven 110: For instance, to install the Gimp package for the 4.0 release on an i386
1.88 nick 111: machine off the ftp site (including dependencies), do:
1.31 espie 112:
113: <pre>
1.90 ! steven 114: # export PKG_PATH=ftp://ftp.openbsd.org/pub/OpenBSD/4.0/packages/i386/
! 115: # pkg_add gimp-2.2.12.tgz
1.31 espie 116: </pre>
117:
1.88 nick 118: <h3><font color="#0000e0"><a name="stable">Ports and Packages Update for an OpenBSD Release</a></font></h3>
1.45 espie 119: <p>
1.88 nick 120: The 2.7 release saw the introduction of a stable branch for the ports tree.
1.45 espie 121: <p>
1.90 ! steven 122: For instance, to grab the stable branch for the 4.0 release:
1.45 espie 123: <pre>
124: $ cd /usr/ports
1.90 ! steven 125: $ cvs -q -d anoncvs@some.anon.server:/cvs up -r OPENBSD_4_0 -Pd
1.45 espie 126: </pre>
127: <p>
1.88 nick 128: Starting with the 2.8 release, selected binary packages are also made
129: available.
130: Please refer to the
131: <a href="pkg-stable.html">stable packages page</a> to find out about
132: updated packages and important updates to the stable branch.
133: If you want to receive security announcements, you can subscribe
134: to the ports-security mailing list.
1.45 espie 135: </p>
136: <p>
1.88 nick 137: Package names are <strong>always</strong> changed in case of a package
138: update, to avoid any risk of confusion between a package from the release
139: and a bug-fixed package.
1.45 espie 140: </p>
141:
1.88 nick 142: <h3><font color="#0000e0"><a name="Manage">Managing Installed Packages</a></font></h3>
1.31 espie 143:
1.88 nick 144: The <a href="http://www.openbsd.org/cgi-bin/man.cgi?query=packages&sektion=7&format=html">packages(7)</a>
145: manual page holds useful information about ways to manage
146: installed packages, solve conflicts (files that already exist) and handle
147: dependencies.
1.31 espie 148: <p>
1.88 nick 149: As of OpenBSD 2.8, to update a package you must:
1.31 espie 150: <ul>
1.88 nick 151: <li>Remove the old package using
152: <a href="http://www.openbsd.org/cgi-bin/man.cgi?query=pkg_delete&sektion=1&format=html">pkg_delete(1)</a>
153: <li>Add the new package using
154: <a href="http://www.openbsd.org/cgi-bin/man.cgi?query=pkg_add&sektion=1&format=html">pkg_add(1)</a>
1.31 espie 155: </ul>
1.88 nick 156: This is slightly inconvenient, as packages may trigger dependencies, and
157: you may have to remove a large subset of packages for an update.
1.31 espie 158:
1.88 nick 159: <h3><font color="#0000e0"><a name="Use">Using Ports</a></font></h3>
1.31 espie 160:
1.88 nick 161: If a given package does not exist for your architecture, you may still
162: be able to compile the port. Besides, some users will want to compile
163: everything from source for various reasons.
164:
165: <p>
166: You can ftp the release version from the pub/OpenBSD/[version] (where
167: [version] is the release number) directory on any of the
168: <a href=ftp.html>ftp mirror sites</a>.
169: The release versions are the ones we ship on our CDROM, and have gone
170: through more testing than any snapshot.
171: Further information is available in the
172: <a href="http://www.openbsd.org/cgi-bin/man.cgi?query=ports&sektion=7&format=html">ports(7)</a> man page.
173:
174: <h3><font color="#0000e0"><a name="Life">Life Cycle of the Ports Tree</a></font></h3>
175:
176: <p>
177: The ports tree, like the rest of OpenBSD, is constantly changing.
178: <p>
179: The current ports tree <strong>may not</strong> be used with the previous
180: release. This is due to changes, typically with the port make process,
181: that require code based upon the OpenBSD-current source tree.
182: <p>The ports tree works as a single entity. Updating a single directory is
183: not guaranteed to work, as package dependencies may force you to update
184: and recompile vast portions of the ports tree.
185: It is strongly suggested that people don't track ports-current unless
186: they're prepared to deal with various problems.
187: <a href=mail.html>Mailing lists</a> such as
188: <code>ports-changes@openbsd.org</code> or
189: <code>tech@openbsd.org</code> will probably be invaluable.
190:
191: <p>You are advised to track ports-stable on a production machine:
192: we will try to keep the stable ports tree up-to-par with respect to
193: problems, and to provide timely binary updates as well.
194:
195: <p>Note that vanishing distfiles is not an issue, as
196: ftp.openbsd.org holds the complete repository. Even changing checksums is
197: not an issue: you can issue the command
1.59 espie 198: <pre>
199: make checksum REFETCH=true
200: </pre>
1.88 nick 201: to make sure you are grabbing the correct distfile for your ports tree.
1.59 espie 202:
1.88 nick 203: For definitions of <i>current</i> and <i>stable</i>, see the
204: <a href="faq/faq5.html#Flavors">OpenBSD's flavors</a>.
1.59 espie 205:
206:
1.88 nick 207: <p>A list of <a href="portsplus/index.html">daily changes</a> to ports
208: and ports-current is available.
1.47 naddy 209:
1.27 brad 210: <p>
1.88 nick 211: The ports-current tree can be retrieved via:
1.25 deraadt 212: <ul>
1.88 nick 213: <li><a href=anoncvs.html>Anonymous CVS</a> (see link). The command is
214: essentially <strong>cvs get ports</strong>.
215: <li>Anonymous ftp from
216: <a href="ftp://ftp.openbsd.org/pub/OpenBSD/snapshots/ports.tar.gz">
217: ftp://ftp.openbsd.org/pub/OpenBSD/snapshots/ports.tar.gz</a>.
218: This archive is updated nightly.
219: <li><a href="cvsup.html">CVSup</a>. See the example for using CVSup in
220: <a href="cvsup.html#checkout">checkout mode</a>.
221: <li>Your web browser using the
222: <a href="http://www.openbsd.org/cgi-bin/cvsweb/ports/">CVS
223: web interface</a>.
1.25 deraadt 224: </ul>
225:
1.88 nick 226: <h3><font color="#0000e0"><a name="X">Ports and the X Window System</a></font></h3>
227: There is some special magic in the OpenBSD X configuration files
228: that allows the ports tree to install imake-based applications under
229: /usr/local.
1.35 espie 230:
1.88 nick 231: <h3><a name="Example"></a><font color="#0000e0">Example Use of the Ports Tree</font></h3>
1.54 lebel 232:
233: <p>
1.88 nick 234: Let's say you managed to get a ports tree and you want to compile and
235: install the archiving utility <strong>unzip</strong>. You should be able to
236: do something like this:
1.31 espie 237:
1.11 deraadt 238: <pre>
1.31 espie 239: % cd /usr/ports/archivers/unzip
240: % su
241: # make
242: # make install
243: # exit
1.11 deraadt 244: </pre>
1.25 deraadt 245:
1.88 nick 246: Easy, huh ? Especially considering all that happened in the background:
1.31 espie 247: <ul>
1.88 nick 248: <li>Fetch unzip sources from an ftp site,
249: <li>Check the source archive integrity,
250: <li>Extract the unzip source,
251: <li>Apply OpenBSD specific patches,
252: <li>Configure and build the program,
253: <li>Create a binary package under /usr/ports/packages,
254: <li>Install that package.
1.31 espie 255: </ul>
1.25 deraadt 256:
257: <p>
1.88 nick 258: With OpenBSD 3.0, almost all ports automatically build
259: packages when installing.
1.31 espie 260:
261: <p>
1.88 nick 262: As ports get built, the /usr/ports/distfiles directory gets filled with
263: program sources, and /usr/ports/packages gets filled with binary packages.
264: Users with low connectivity may refer to
265: <a href="http://www.openbsd.org/cgi-bin/man.cgi?query=mirroring-ports&sektion=7&format=html">mirroring-ports(7)</a> for
266: an efficient way to grab all distfiles at once. In OpenBSD-current, you
267: can use the script /usr/ports/infrastructure/fetch/clean-old to track
268: old distfiles.
269: Note that the OpenBSD CD only includes the ports tree and selected packages.
270: If you wish to have the distfiles, you will have to get them through an
271: independent way.
272:
273: <h3><font color="#0000e0"><a name="Advanced"></a>Advanced Usage of the Ports Tree</font></h3>
274:
275: <p>
276: Ports tree has many features for the advanced user that make it a valuable
277: tool beyond basic installation. Advanced users may wish to tamper with
278: the makefiles (you should read the
1.63 rohee 279: <a href="http://www.openbsd.org/cgi-bin/man.cgi?query=make&sektion=1&format=html">make(1)</a>
1.88 nick 280: manual page first) or set various variables from the make command-line or in
281: <tt>/etc/mk.conf</tt>. These variables are described in detail in the
1.63 rohee 282: <a href="http://www.openbsd.org/cgi-bin/man.cgi?query=bsd.port.mk&sektion=5&format=html">bsd.port.mk(5)</a>
1.88 nick 283: manual page, and the porting documents below.
1.55 heko 284: </p>
285:
1.88 nick 286: <h3><font color="#0000e0"><a name="Create">Creating New Ports</a></font></h3>
1.25 deraadt 287: <p>
1.88 nick 288: If you are interested in helping to expand the OpenBSD ports tree
289: you should first read <a href="porting.html">porting.html</a>.
290: That page references the
1.66 jufi 291: <a href="http://www.freebsd.org/doc/en_US.ISO8859-1/books/porters-handbook/index.html">
292: FreeBSD Porter's Handbook</a>
1.88 nick 293: as well as OpenBSD specific policies and hints.
1.56 heko 294:
1.88 nick 295: <h3><font color="#0000e0"><a name="Lag">When a Port Is Lagging Behind the Mainstream Version</a></font></h3>
1.56 heko 296:
297: <p>
1.88 nick 298: The ports collection is a volunteer project. Sometimes the project simply
299: doesn't have the developer resources to keep everything up-to-date.
300: Developers pretty much pick up what they consider interesting and can
301: test in their environment. Your <a href="goals.html#funding">donations</a>
302: count for what platforms the ports can be tested on.
1.56 heko 303: </p>
304:
305: <p>
1.88 nick 306: Some individual ports may lag behind the mainstream versions because of this.
307: The ports collection may have a version back of a program from January while a new
308: version of the program has been released by its developers in May three months ago.
309: Often this is a conscious decision; the new version may have problems in it on
310: OpenBSD that the maintainer is trying to solve, or that have simply made the
311: application worse than the old version: OpenBSD may have different
312: <a href="goals.html">goals</a> than the mainstream developers in other projects,
313: which sometimes results in features and design or implementation choices
314: that are undesirable from OpenBSD developers' point of view. The update may also be
315: postponed because the new version is not considered a crucial update.
1.56 heko 316: </p>
317:
318: <p>
1.88 nick 319: If you really need a new version of a port, you should ask the <tt>MAINTAINER</tt>
320: of the port to update the port (see <a href="#Help">below</a> on how to find out who
321: the maintainer is); if you can send patches for this, all the better. To create proper
322: patches, you should refer to the <a href="porting.html">documentation on building
323: ports</a>.
1.56 heko 324: </p>
1.25 deraadt 325:
1.88 nick 326: <h3><font color="#0000e0"><a name="Help">Problems and Contacts</a></font></h3>
1.25 deraadt 327:
328: <p>
1.88 nick 329: If you have trouble with an existing port, please send e-mail to the
330: port maintainer. To see who is the maintainer of the port, type, for
331: example:
1.54 lebel 332: <pre>
333: % cd /usr/ports/archivers/unzip
1.74 xsa 334: % make show=MAINTAINER
1.54 lebel 335: </pre>
1.88 nick 336: Alternatively, if there is no maintainer, or you can't reach
337: him/her, send mail to the OpenBSD
338: ports mailing list, <a href="mailto:ports@openbsd.org">ports@openbsd.org</a>.
339: Please don't use the misc@openbsd.org mailing list for questions about ports.
340: Corrections are always welcome, but in any case do please provide:
1.25 deraadt 341: <ul>
1.88 nick 342: <li>The output of <code>uname -a</code>,
343: <li>Your OpenBSD version, including any patches you may have applied,
344: <li>A complete description of the problem.
1.45 espie 345: </ul>
1.88 nick 346: For ports that don't build correctly, a complete build transcript is almost
347: always required. You can use the portslogger script, found in
348: /usr/ports/infrastructure/build, for this. A sample run of portslogger
349: might be:
1.54 lebel 350:
351: <pre>
352: % cd /usr/ports/archivers/unzip
353: % su
354: # mkdir -p ~/portslogs
1.63 rohee 355: # make clean install 2>&1 | /usr/ports/infrastructure/build/portslogger \
1.54 lebel 356: ~/portslogs
357: </pre>
358:
1.88 nick 359: After this, you should have a logfile of the build in your ~/portslogs directory
360: that you can send to the port maintainer. Also, make sure you are not using
361: any special options in your build, for example in /etc/mk.conf.
1.54 lebel 362:
363: <p>
1.88 nick 364: Alternatively, you can
1.45 espie 365: <ul>
1.88 nick 366: <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.
367: <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.
368: <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
369: the gcc mailing-list. It does save time if you follow their direction, and
370: provide at least the various files produced by <tt>gcc -save-temps</tt>.
1.25 deraadt 371: </ul>
372:
373: <hr>
1.88 nick 374: <a href="index.html"><img height=24 width=24 src=back.gif border=0 alt=OpenBSD></a>
1.47 naddy 375: <a href="mailto:www@openbsd.org">www@openbsd.org</a>
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