Media Packages Vs. Ports

[vrwmiller at gmail.com]

Hi all,

I am performing PXE boots and automated installs of FreeBSD 8.1-RELEASE  
with a custom sysinstall.cfg file which identifies packages that are to be  
installed in addition to the distributions. We have need to install  
compat6x-amd64 and I'd like to have this done during install.  
Unfortunately, it does not appear that this package exists in the FreeBSD  
media from which the install occurs. However, it is available through the  
ports collection.

What is the relationship between the packages directory on the media and  
the ports collection? Is there a process that identifies what ports are  
made available in the packages directory of the media? Is it possible to  
take a port, make a package of it and put it in the packages directory of  
my own media?

--Rick