stay up to date with ports and packages, problem

[Warren Block]

On Sat, 19 May 2012, Matthew Seaman wrote:

> That's a bit drastic and pretty much something you'ld never actually
> want to do in normal usage.  However, for completeness' sake:
>
>   # pkg_delete -af
>
> will remove all installed ports.  After doing that there should be
> hardly anything left under /usr/local -- most of what's left would be
> config files in /usr/local/etc.

The -f is probably not needed.  I've done this rarely enough to not 
recall, but -a should sort everything in the right order so dependencies 
are uninstalled in order.

> The advice to use portmaster is good.
>
> A typical session to maintain all your ports goes something like this:
>
>   # portsnap fetch update             (Gets the latest contents for
>                                        /usr/ports)
>   # less /usr/ports/UPDATING          (Check for any special
>                                        instructions affecting any
>                                        ports you have installed.
>                                        Assuming nothing out of the
>                                        ordinary is required (and it
>                                        usually isn't), then...)
>   # pkg_version -vIL=                 (see what needs updating)
>   # portmaster -a                     (update everything out of date)

portmaster can show ports that can be updated:

   portmaster -L --index-only

Or, more concisely:

   portmaster -L --index-only | egrep '(ew|ort) version|total install'

There's a short overview of port upgrading procedures and reasoning 
at http://www.wonkity.com/~wblock/docs/html/portupgrade.html .