make install a port, but with a package?

[Manolis Kiagias]

freebsd-questions at auscert.org.au wrote:
> Hi,
>
> I have a bad feeling that this has been asked already, and not that long
> ago, but I can't find it in my mailbox. Is there a variable I can set so
> that running 'make install' in a port directory will cause it to download
> the package, if available, and install that instead of building from
> source?  In other words, the equivalent of 'portupgrade -NPP'. I have
> looked at the .mk files and nothing in there seems to do that.
>
> This is for the situation where portupgrade isn't installed yet, and I'd
> like to install it quickly from packages so I don't have to wait for Ruby
> to build. Sure, I could do it with pkg_add or sysinstall but it would be
> neat to be able to do everything from the ports tree.
>
> thanks,
> joel
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>
>   
Make install will always compile from source. You could however use:

setenv PACKAGESITE 
ftp://ftp.freebsd.org/pub/FreeBSD/ports/i386/packages-6-stable/Latest/

or

export
PACKAGESITE=ftp://ftp.freebsd.org/pub/FreeBSD/ports/i386/packages-6-stable/Latest/  
(if you use bash)

and then do pkg_add, will get you latest packages build from the -STABLE
ports. You don't even have to worry about specific version numbers (i.e.
pkg_add -r bash instead of pkg_add -r bash-3.2.17_1) so this is a close
to a "port tree simulation" as possible. The package may still be
lagging a few versions behind the port however (or in some cases may not
even exist).