file://localhost/usr/ports/www/firefox/README.html

[crs at swcp.com]

Many ports in the ports collection provided with freeBSD 4.11 (on
the CD) pop up a DOS-like pseudo-GUI if I enter "sudo make" from
the directory of the port.

That would not be so objectionable *IF* they worked on my system.

Please don't tell me that I must enquire of the maintainer of the
specific port.  If this happened only with a single port or even a
couple, I could see that someone had simply slipped something
bizarre in unbknownst to the manager of the ports collection.  But
this happens too often to be an oversight on your part.

And, yes, I've looked at the ports (7) man page and have found
nothing about this.

I don't know why they don't work; only that if I try to navigate
the options using the arrow keys, the escape sequence provided by
the key is echoed on the screen and nothing happens.  That, of
course, make it impossible even to get to the "Cancel" pseudo-
button.

It would be nice if this mode occurred *ONLY* upon request and not
as the default.

But, since it is the default for many ports (including firefox), is
there a way to disable it?

Or does firefox (et al.) depend upon something that the graphical
interface requires (and that I obviously don't have installed)?

If so, wouldn't it be nice if, before running the graphical screen,
it would check for whatever that screen requires and, failing to
find it, print an *informative* error message?

Can you help me?

Thank you for any help.

Charlie

>
>             The FreeBSD Ports Collection (/usr/ports/www/firefox)
>     _________________________________________________________________
>
>   You are now in the directory for the port "/usr/ports/www/firefox".
>
>   The package name of this port is "firefox-1.0_7,1".
>
>   This is the one-line description for this port:
>     _________________________________________________________________
>
>   Web browser based on the browser portion of Mozilla
>     _________________________________________________________________
>
>   Please read the "description file" for a longer description and/or
>   visit the web site for futher informations.
>
>   If needed, you may contact the maintainer of this port or the port
>   mailing-list.
>
>   This port requires package(s) "XFree86-fontEncodings-4.4.0
>   XFree86-fontScalable-4.4.0_1 XFree86-libraries-4.4.0_3 atk-1.8.0
>   bitstream-vera-1.10 expat-1.95.8 fontconfig-2.2.3,1 freetype2-2.1.7_4
>   gettext-0.14.1 glib-2.4.8 gmake-3.80_2 gtk-2.4.14_2
>   hicolor-icon-theme-0.5 intltool-0.32.1 jpeg-6b_3 lcms-1.13_1,1
>   libIDL-0.8.4 libXft-2.1.6 libiconv-1.9.2_1 libmng-1.0.8 libxml2-2.6.16
>   p5-XML-Parser-2.34_1 pango-1.6.0 pkgconfig-0.15.0_1 png-1.2.8
>   shared-mime-info-0.15_7 tiff-3.7.1_2 zip-2.3_2" to build.
>
>   This port requires package(s) "XFree86-fontEncodings-4.4.0
>   XFree86-fontScalable-4.4.0_1 XFree86-libraries-4.4.0_3 atk-1.8.0
>   bitstream-vera-1.10 expat-1.95.8 fontconfig-2.2.3,1 freetype2-2.1.7_4
>   gettext-0.14.1 glib-2.4.8 gnomehier-1.0_21 gtk-2.4.14_2
>   hicolor-icon-theme-0.5 jpeg-6b_3 lcms-1.13_1,1 libIDL-0.8.4
>   libXft-2.1.6 libiconv-1.9.2_1 libmng-1.0.8 libxml2-2.6.16 pango-1.6.0
>   pkgconfig-0.15.0_1 png-1.2.8 shared-mime-info-0.15_7 tiff-3.7.1_2" to
>   run.
>
>   Go to the top of the ports tree for a summary on how to use the ports
>   collection.
>     _________________________________________________________________
>
>   Go up one level | Go to top of ports tree
--  
Charlie Sorsby
        crs at swcp.com
        P. O. Box 1225
        Edgewood, NM 87015
        USA

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