Obtaining portsmanager meta package for alternate OS

Paul Mather paul at gromit.dlib.vt.edu
Fri Jul 15 20:47:22 GMT 2005


On Fri, 15 Jul 2005 10:08:05 -0400 (EDT), "Jacob A. Siehler"
<siehlerj at wlu.edu> wrote:

> >> Try running configure then make just like any other linux program
> and see
> >> if it compiles, if it doesn't let me know what the error is.  I
> understand
> >> Mac OS X is based on FreeBSD, does it have FreeBSD's port
> infrastructure?
> > My Mac (OSX 10.2) doesn't have anything remotely resembling a port
> > infrastructure installed as part of the OS. All the OSS that I've
> installed
> > was done through what I will call binary 'bundles' mostly from .dmg
> files.
> > They each provided their own installer (usually using the
> applescript
> > langauge).
> 
> The nearest OS X analogy to the ports system is fink:
> http://fink.sourceforge.net/

There is also DarwinPorts (http://darwinports.opendarwin.org/) and the
NetBSD pkgsrc (http://www.pkgsrc.org/) system (which, IMHO, is more
ports-like than Fink) also supports MacOS X (although I'm not sure if
pkgsrc still has the requirement of a case-sensitive file system).

DarwinPorts, pkgsrc, and Fink can co-exist on the same system.  I use
mainly DarwinPorts on a MacOS X Server system I use, with Fink sometimes
to fill in the gaps when a port is missing from the DarwinPorts
collection.  Both DarwinPorts and Fink have an update mechanism.
DarwinPorts supports multiple "views" of a package, too, allowing
multiple versions to exist for those ports that require older/newer
versions to build or run properly.  If you're into GUIs, Fink has
FinkCommander to scratch that itch.

Cheers,

Paul.
-- 
e-mail: paul at gromit.dlib.vt.edu

"Without music to decorate it, time is just a bunch of boring production
 deadlines or dates by which bills must be paid."
        --- Frank Vincent Zappa


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