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Revision 1.27, Tue Oct 5 01:43:43 1999 UTC (24 years, 7 months ago) by brad
Branch: MAIN
Changes since 1.26: +28 -18 lines 

clarify usage of -current ports tree

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<p>
<h2><font color=#e00000>Ports and Packages</font><hr></h2>

<h3><font color=#0000e0>History</font></h3>

<p>
OpenBSD is a fairly complete system of its own, but still there is a lot
of software that one might want see added. However there is the problem
on where to draw the line as to what to include, as well as the occasional
licensing and export restriction problems.  As OpenBSD is supposed to be
a small stand-alone UNIX-like operating system, some things just can't be
shipped with the system.

<p>
We wanted to find a way for users to easily get software we don't provide
and started to look around. We didn't have to look far, as sibling project
<a href="http://www.freebsd.org/">FreeBSD</a> already had an 
	excellent mechanism
for exactly this purpose called
<a href="http://www.freebsd.org/ports/">"The ports collection"</a>.

<p>
At first we tried to use their collection as-is, but due to
incompatibility problems between FreeBSD and OpenBSD we decided to branch
out and create our very own OpenBSD Ports Project using FreeBSD's as a
starting point.  This also allows us to tune the ports better to our
system.

<h3><font color=#0000e0>Short description and setup</font></h3>

<p>
The ports idea is to have, for each piece of software, a Makefile that
controls
<ul>
<li>where to fetch it,
<li>how to do the fetch,
<li>what it depends upon (if anything),
<li>how to alter the sources (if needed),
<li>and how to configure, build and install it.
</ul>
<p>
This information is kept in a directory hierarchy under the
/usr/ports directory.
<h3><font color=#0000e0>Getting the Ports tree</font></h3>
<p>
You can ftp the release version from the pub/OpenBSD/[version] (where
[version] is the release number) directory on any of the
<a href=ftp.html>ftp mirror sites</a>.
The release versions are the ones we ship on our CDROM, and have gone
through more testing than any snapshot.

<p>
The ports tree, like the rest of the OpenBSD tree, is constantly changing.
While we strive to maintain compatibility through the lifetime of a
particular release, sometimes issues beyond our control occur.  For example,
particular versions of the ported package might no longer exist.  Therefore,
you might want to get and use a newer version of the ports tree keeping in
mind though that the -current ports tree is tested with OpenBSD -current
and is NOT guarenteed to work with a previous release.  It is also
suggested that if you are using the ports tree that you subscribe to the
source-changes
<a href=mail.html>mailing list</a>.

<p>
The -current ports tree can be retrieved via:
<ul>
<li><a href=anoncvs.html>Anonymous CVS</a> (see link).  The command is
essentially <strong>cvs get ports</strong>.
<li>Anonymous ftp from
<a href="ftp://ftp.openbsd.org/pub/OpenBSD/snapshots/ports.tar.gz">
ftp://ftp.openbsd.org/pub/OpenBSD/snapshots/ports.tar.gz</a>.
	This archive is updated nightly.
<li>Your web browser using the 
<a href="http://www.openbsd.org/cgi-bin/cvsweb/ports/">CVS
	web interface</a>.
</ul>

<h3><font color=#0000e0>Example use of the Ports tree</font></h3>

<p>
Let's say you managed to get a ports tree and you want to compile and
install the archiving utility <code>unzip</code>.  You should be able to
	do something like this:
<pre>
% cd /usr/ports/archivers/unzip
% su
# make
# make install
# exit
</pre>
Easy, huh?

<h3><font color=#0000e0>Port status information</font></h3>

<p>
The <a href="portstat.html">ports status page</a> is updated as
team members add new ports and verify existing ports.  Existing
ports are continually verified to validate source availability and
proper operation with OpenBSD -current.  The page notes the date last
checked and the nature of any change.  This is a new resource that is not
yet complete.  If you have any information to add to the status page
please send it to
<a href="mailto:ports@openbsd.org">ports@openbsd.org</a>.

<h3><font color=#0000e0>Creating new ports</font></h3>

<p>
If you are interested in helping to expand the OpenBSD ports tree
you should first read <a href="porting.html">porting.html</a>.
That page references the porting section of the
<a href="http://www.freebsd.org/handbook/">FreeBSD handbook</a>
as well as OpenBSD specific policies and hints.

<h3><font color=#0000e0>Problems and contacts</font></h3>

<p>
If you have trouble with ports please send e-mail to the OpenBSD
ports mailing list, <a href="mailto:ports@openbsd.org">ports@openbsd.org</a>.
Corrections are always welcome, but in any case do please provide:
<ul>
<li>The output of <code>uname -a</code>,
<li>Your OpenBSD version, including any patches you may have applied,
<li>A complete description of the problem.

</ul>

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<br><small>$OpenBSD: ports.html,v 1.27 1999/10/05 01:43:43 brad Exp $</small>
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