Will FBSD Squid "port" create squid user and group?

[Thomas-Martin Seck]

* Ed Flecko <edflecko at gmail.com> [gmane.os.freebsd.questions]:

> Hi folks,
> I guess this is a two-faceted question:
> 
> 1.) If I install Squid from a "port", will in create the recommended
> squid user and group for me, or will I need to pre-create a squid user
> and group prior to Squid running?

Yes. The code that manages this is in www/squid/files/pkg-install.in.
The uid/gid of the user/group that the port/pacage will add is hardwired
to 100 whereas the name of the actual user/group can be overridden when
you build the port from source. Use SQUID_UID=foo SQUID_GID=bar in your
make(1) environment if you intend to do this. If you install the
pre-built package via pkg_add, user and group "squid" with uid 100 will
be added unless a user/group with this name already exists.

> I like the idea of modifying
> SQUID_CONFIGURE_ARGS in the squid port Makefile to customize the
> software before I compile and install it, but if it doesn't create the
> user and group for you...what advantage do you gain to install from a
> port -vs- downloading the tarball and building from source?

The port tries to ensure that Squid complies with the FreeBSD file
system hierarchy standards and it installs more helpers than what you
would normally get when you install Squid from the distribution tarball.

Just have a Look at the definition of the CONFIGURE_ARGS make macro in
the port's Makefile to see which options the port enables by default.
As a bonus you get a dialog(1) based configuration dialog for the
fancier options.

A port is basically a wrapper that tries to automate everything you
would otherwise need to do manually when you install directly from
source.

> 2.) "As a general rule", when you install software that needs a
> special user/group, will those users/groups be created when you
> install from ports, or only from packages?

Pre-build package and installation from port should behave the same in
this respect. Everything else is a bug.

Best regards,
-- 
Thomas-Martin Seck
current maintainer of www/squid{,30,31}