How do I know what a meta port installs?

[Per Berger]

On Thu, Mar 31, 2005 at 03:58:41PM +0200, Erik Nørgaard wrote:
> Per Berger wrote:
> >I have installed a couple of "meta" ports, for example gnome2. How can I 
> >see exactly which ports the meta port installs? I have tried to figure 
> >it out but failed...
> >
> >I am right now installing "gnome2-power-tools" and can see that it 
> >installs apache (!) which causes some concern regarding configuration 
> >and security. So; what else did it install? How do I find out?
> 
> A meta port installs a number of packages by depending on them. For 
> example in the ports/x11/gnome2/Makefile you will find a variable 
> "RUN_DEPENDS=" and then a long list of things.
> 
> All these dependencies are installed when you "make install" but since 
> it is a run-time dependency, nothing happens if you just type "make".
> 
> What you won't see, is that each of these packages most likely depends 
> on other packages etc. that are also installed. Tracing this till the 
> end is hard.
> 
> What may give you some idea is to install the portupgrade tools and run
> 
>   portupgrade -rRn gnome2
> 
> This will not install anything (-n) but recurse up and down in the 
> dependencies to tell you what would be done. This may not show you all 
> dependencies as portupgrade should only want to upgrade what is _not_ up 
> to date.

Thanks! I'll check it out...

> 
> Regarding gnome2-power-tools:
> 
> First, it may install apache as a (sub-) dependency, but apache won't 
> start unless you start it, as such it does not introduce new network 
> accessible services.

Yes, I added apache_enable="NO" to /etc/rc.conf but I am a bit concerned what 
else got installed...

> 
> Second: Do you actually need all that? The easiest way to keep a system 
> clean and updated is to stay at minimal needs, install as needed. You 
> will learn that first time you try to upgrade a major package ...

I know I do not need all that got installed... I am usually conservative 
regarding what I install but now I wanted to be a little wild and try out 
the new gnome 2.10 and after reading the gnome faq on freebsd.org I also 
wanted to check out the power tools... This is after all an old PC at 
home, but being an IT professional the "Pro" part of me woke up when I 
saw apache flying by... ;-)

> 
> Cheers, Erik
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