updated ports tree

[Kris Kennaway]

On Fri, Apr 23, 2004 at 07:38:37PM -0600, Danny MacMillan wrote:
> On Fri, 23 Apr 2004 23:41:36 +0000, Killermink ! <killermink at hotmail.com> 
> wrote:
> 
> >I see what your saying and i suppose I have two points:
> >
> >1) Can you install a port without installing the ports tree?
> 
> Ports can not be installed without first being built, and the ports tree 
> is what enables you to build a port.  Short answer: no.
> 
> Somewhat longer answer:  If your concern is disk space, in theory it would 
> be possible, I think, to install only that subset of the ports tree 
> required to build the port you are interested in, but that task is 
> non-trivial.  Most ports depend on other ports, which themselves depend on 
> other ports, and so on.  One of the advantages of the ports tree is that 
> having it available means you do not have to resolve those dependencies 
> manually.  I don't think if you install an individual port it would be 
> smart enough to resolve these dependencies automatically (but I've never 
> tried to do it that way).  If not, you would have to untar the part of the 
> ports tree containing the port you wish to build, then attempt to install 
> it.  Then handle each of the inevitable errors in turn, untarring 
> progressively more of the ports tree until you get it to the point where 
> it will install your port. I don't think this is the best way to go, but I 
> would be interested to know if and how well it works.
> 
> If you go to http://www.freebsd.org/ports/ you can browse the ports 
> collection online and download individual tarballs for each port.  Each 
> port also lists its dependencies so you can see how big of a task you 
> might be letting yourself in for.

The portcheckout port is an easier alternative.

> >I am still new at this, and can't seem to find packages for all the 
> >ports in the tree...
> 
> My understanding is this:  That there aren't packages for all the ports in 
> the tree, but that there are many more packages available on the ftp 
> site(s) than ship on the CD.  If you browse the ports collection online 
> you'll be able to download packages for many (most?) of the ports.  If you 
> would really rather not install the ports tree, I'd invest some time in 
> looking for the package you want to install.  Odds are pretty good it's 
> available.

There are packages for everything that can be packaged automatically
and redistributed.  If a port is broken, requires manual intervention
to build, or may not legally be redistributed, it won't be on the FTP
sites.

Kris
-------------- next part --------------
A non-text attachment was scrubbed...
Name: not available
Type: application/pgp-signature
Size: 187 bytes
Desc: not available
Url : http://lists.freebsd.org/pipermail/freebsd-questions/attachments/20040423/5177ac60/attachment.bin