Annotation of www/ports.html, Revision 1.96
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1.88 nick 16: <a href="index.html"><img alt="[OpenBSD]" height="30" width="141" src="images/smalltitle.gif" border="0"></a>
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>
1.95 steven 97: <li><a href="http://www.openbsd.org/4.3_packages/">Packages for OpenBSD 4.3</a>
1.92 pvalchev 98: <li><a href="http://www.openbsd.org/4.2_packages/">Packages for OpenBSD 4.2</a>
1.91 steven 99: <li><a href="http://www.openbsd.org/4.1_packages/">Packages for OpenBSD 4.1</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
1.96 ! landry 105: <code>pkg_add pkgname</code>.
1.88 nick 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>
1.94 steven 110: For instance, to install the Gimp package for the 4.3 release on an i386
1.88 nick 111: machine off the ftp site (including dependencies), do:
1.31 espie 112:
113: <pre>
1.94 steven 114: # export PKG_PATH=ftp://ftp.openbsd.org/pub/OpenBSD/4.3/packages/i386/
1.96 ! landry 115: # pkg_add gimp
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>
1.94 steven 122: For instance, to grab the stable branch for the 4.3 release:
1.45 espie 123: <pre>
124: $ cd /usr/ports
1.94 steven 125: $ cvs -q -d anoncvs@some.anon.server:/cvs up -r OPENBSD_4_3 -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>
1.96 ! landry 149: Starting with OpenBSD 3.9, an update mechanism is provided by
! 150: <a href="http://www.openbsd.org/cgi-bin/man.cgi?query=pkg_add&sektion=1&format=html">pkg_add(1)</a>.
! 151: To update a package (and its dependencies) you must set PKG_PATH to a
! 152: repository URL which contains updates, and use
! 153: <code>pkg_add -ui pkgname</code>.
1.31 espie 154:
1.88 nick 155: <h3><font color="#0000e0"><a name="Use">Using Ports</a></font></h3>
1.31 espie 156:
1.88 nick 157: If a given package does not exist for your architecture, you may still
158: be able to compile the port. Besides, some users will want to compile
159: everything from source for various reasons.
160:
161: <p>
162: You can ftp the release version from the pub/OpenBSD/[version] (where
163: [version] is the release number) directory on any of the
164: <a href=ftp.html>ftp mirror sites</a>.
165: The release versions are the ones we ship on our CDROM, and have gone
166: through more testing than any snapshot.
167: Further information is available in the
168: <a href="http://www.openbsd.org/cgi-bin/man.cgi?query=ports&sektion=7&format=html">ports(7)</a> man page.
169:
170: <h3><font color="#0000e0"><a name="Life">Life Cycle of the Ports Tree</a></font></h3>
171:
172: <p>
173: The ports tree, like the rest of OpenBSD, is constantly changing.
174: <p>
175: The current ports tree <strong>may not</strong> be used with the previous
176: release. This is due to changes, typically with the port make process,
177: that require code based upon the OpenBSD-current source tree.
178: <p>The ports tree works as a single entity. Updating a single directory is
179: not guaranteed to work, as package dependencies may force you to update
180: and recompile vast portions of the ports tree.
181: It is strongly suggested that people don't track ports-current unless
182: they're prepared to deal with various problems.
183: <a href=mail.html>Mailing lists</a> such as
184: <code>ports-changes@openbsd.org</code> or
185: <code>tech@openbsd.org</code> will probably be invaluable.
186:
187: <p>You are advised to track ports-stable on a production machine:
188: we will try to keep the stable ports tree up-to-par with respect to
189: problems, and to provide timely binary updates as well.
190:
191: <p>Note that vanishing distfiles is not an issue, as
192: ftp.openbsd.org holds the complete repository. Even changing checksums is
193: not an issue: you can issue the command
1.59 espie 194: <pre>
195: make checksum REFETCH=true
196: </pre>
1.88 nick 197: to make sure you are grabbing the correct distfile for your ports tree.
1.59 espie 198:
1.88 nick 199: For definitions of <i>current</i> and <i>stable</i>, see the
200: <a href="faq/faq5.html#Flavors">OpenBSD's flavors</a>.
1.59 espie 201:
202:
1.88 nick 203: <p>A list of <a href="portsplus/index.html">daily changes</a> to ports
204: and ports-current is available.
1.47 naddy 205:
1.27 brad 206: <p>
1.88 nick 207: The ports-current tree can be retrieved via:
1.25 deraadt 208: <ul>
1.88 nick 209: <li><a href=anoncvs.html>Anonymous CVS</a> (see link). The command is
210: essentially <strong>cvs get ports</strong>.
211: <li>Anonymous ftp from
212: <a href="ftp://ftp.openbsd.org/pub/OpenBSD/snapshots/ports.tar.gz">
213: ftp://ftp.openbsd.org/pub/OpenBSD/snapshots/ports.tar.gz</a>.
214: This archive is updated nightly.
215: <li><a href="cvsup.html">CVSup</a>. See the example for using CVSup in
216: <a href="cvsup.html#checkout">checkout mode</a>.
217: <li>Your web browser using the
218: <a href="http://www.openbsd.org/cgi-bin/cvsweb/ports/">CVS
219: web interface</a>.
1.25 deraadt 220: </ul>
221:
1.88 nick 222: <h3><font color="#0000e0"><a name="X">Ports and the X Window System</a></font></h3>
223: There is some special magic in the OpenBSD X configuration files
224: that allows the ports tree to install imake-based applications under
225: /usr/local.
1.35 espie 226:
1.88 nick 227: <h3><a name="Example"></a><font color="#0000e0">Example Use of the Ports Tree</font></h3>
1.54 lebel 228:
229: <p>
1.88 nick 230: Let's say you managed to get a ports tree and you want to compile and
231: install the archiving utility <strong>unzip</strong>. You should be able to
232: do something like this:
1.31 espie 233:
1.11 deraadt 234: <pre>
1.31 espie 235: % cd /usr/ports/archivers/unzip
236: % su
1.96 ! landry 237: # make install clean
1.31 espie 238: # exit
1.11 deraadt 239: </pre>
1.25 deraadt 240:
1.88 nick 241: Easy, huh ? Especially considering all that happened in the background:
1.31 espie 242: <ul>
1.88 nick 243: <li>Fetch unzip sources from an ftp site,
244: <li>Check the source archive integrity,
245: <li>Extract the unzip source,
246: <li>Apply OpenBSD specific patches,
247: <li>Configure and build the program,
248: <li>Create a binary package under /usr/ports/packages,
249: <li>Install that package.
1.31 espie 250: </ul>
1.25 deraadt 251:
252: <p>
1.88 nick 253: With OpenBSD 3.0, almost all ports automatically build
254: packages when installing.
1.31 espie 255:
256: <p>
1.88 nick 257: As ports get built, the /usr/ports/distfiles directory gets filled with
258: program sources, and /usr/ports/packages gets filled with binary packages.
259: Users with low connectivity may refer to
260: <a href="http://www.openbsd.org/cgi-bin/man.cgi?query=mirroring-ports&sektion=7&format=html">mirroring-ports(7)</a> for
261: an efficient way to grab all distfiles at once. In OpenBSD-current, you
262: can use the script /usr/ports/infrastructure/fetch/clean-old to track
263: old distfiles.
264: Note that the OpenBSD CD only includes the ports tree and selected packages.
265: If you wish to have the distfiles, you will have to get them through an
266: independent way.
267:
268: <h3><font color="#0000e0"><a name="Advanced"></a>Advanced Usage of the Ports Tree</font></h3>
269:
270: <p>
271: Ports tree has many features for the advanced user that make it a valuable
272: tool beyond basic installation. Advanced users may wish to tamper with
273: the makefiles (you should read the
1.63 rohee 274: <a href="http://www.openbsd.org/cgi-bin/man.cgi?query=make&sektion=1&format=html">make(1)</a>
1.88 nick 275: manual page first) or set various variables from the make command-line or in
276: <tt>/etc/mk.conf</tt>. These variables are described in detail in the
1.63 rohee 277: <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 278: manual page, and the porting documents below.
1.55 heko 279: </p>
280:
1.88 nick 281: <h3><font color="#0000e0"><a name="Create">Creating New Ports</a></font></h3>
1.25 deraadt 282: <p>
1.88 nick 283: If you are interested in helping to expand the OpenBSD ports tree
284: you should first read <a href="porting.html">porting.html</a>.
285: That page references the
1.66 jufi 286: <a href="http://www.freebsd.org/doc/en_US.ISO8859-1/books/porters-handbook/index.html">
287: FreeBSD Porter's Handbook</a>
1.88 nick 288: as well as OpenBSD specific policies and hints.
1.56 heko 289:
1.88 nick 290: <h3><font color="#0000e0"><a name="Lag">When a Port Is Lagging Behind the Mainstream Version</a></font></h3>
1.56 heko 291:
292: <p>
1.88 nick 293: The ports collection is a volunteer project. Sometimes the project simply
294: doesn't have the developer resources to keep everything up-to-date.
295: Developers pretty much pick up what they consider interesting and can
296: test in their environment. Your <a href="goals.html#funding">donations</a>
297: count for what platforms the ports can be tested on.
1.56 heko 298: </p>
299:
300: <p>
1.88 nick 301: Some individual ports may lag behind the mainstream versions because of this.
302: The ports collection may have a version back of a program from January while a new
303: version of the program has been released by its developers in May three months ago.
304: Often this is a conscious decision; the new version may have problems in it on
305: OpenBSD that the maintainer is trying to solve, or that have simply made the
306: application worse than the old version: OpenBSD may have different
307: <a href="goals.html">goals</a> than the mainstream developers in other projects,
308: which sometimes results in features and design or implementation choices
309: that are undesirable from OpenBSD developers' point of view. The update may also be
310: postponed because the new version is not considered a crucial update.
1.56 heko 311: </p>
312:
313: <p>
1.88 nick 314: If you really need a new version of a port, you should ask the <tt>MAINTAINER</tt>
315: of the port to update the port (see <a href="#Help">below</a> on how to find out who
316: the maintainer is); if you can send patches for this, all the better. To create proper
317: patches, you should refer to the <a href="porting.html">documentation on building
318: ports</a>.
1.56 heko 319: </p>
1.25 deraadt 320:
1.88 nick 321: <h3><font color="#0000e0"><a name="Help">Problems and Contacts</a></font></h3>
1.25 deraadt 322:
323: <p>
1.88 nick 324: If you have trouble with an existing port, please send e-mail to the
325: port maintainer. To see who is the maintainer of the port, type, for
326: example:
1.54 lebel 327: <pre>
328: % cd /usr/ports/archivers/unzip
1.74 xsa 329: % make show=MAINTAINER
1.54 lebel 330: </pre>
1.88 nick 331: Alternatively, if there is no maintainer, or you can't reach
332: him/her, send mail to the OpenBSD
333: ports mailing list, <a href="mailto:ports@openbsd.org">ports@openbsd.org</a>.
334: Please don't use the misc@openbsd.org mailing list for questions about ports.
335: Corrections are always welcome, but in any case do please provide:
1.25 deraadt 336: <ul>
1.88 nick 337: <li>The output of <code>uname -a</code>,
338: <li>Your OpenBSD version, including any patches you may have applied,
339: <li>A complete description of the problem.
1.45 espie 340: </ul>
1.88 nick 341: For ports that don't build correctly, a complete build transcript is almost
342: always required. You can use the portslogger script, found in
343: /usr/ports/infrastructure/build, for this. A sample run of portslogger
344: might be:
1.54 lebel 345:
346: <pre>
347: % cd /usr/ports/archivers/unzip
348: % su
349: # mkdir -p ~/portslogs
1.63 rohee 350: # make clean install 2>&1 | /usr/ports/infrastructure/build/portslogger \
1.54 lebel 351: ~/portslogs
352: </pre>
353:
1.88 nick 354: After this, you should have a logfile of the build in your ~/portslogs directory
355: that you can send to the port maintainer. Also, make sure you are not using
356: any special options in your build, for example in /etc/mk.conf.
1.54 lebel 357:
358: <p>
1.88 nick 359: Alternatively, you can
1.45 espie 360: <ul>
1.88 nick 361: <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.
362: <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.
363: <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
364: the gcc mailing-list. It does save time if you follow their direction, and
365: provide at least the various files produced by <tt>gcc -save-temps</tt>.
1.25 deraadt 366: </ul>
367:
368: <hr>
1.88 nick 369: <a href="index.html"><img height=24 width=24 src=back.gif border=0 alt=OpenBSD></a>
1.47 naddy 370: <a href="mailto:www@openbsd.org">www@openbsd.org</a>
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