GSoC: Separation of Ports Build Process from Local Installation

[Theron Tarigo]

Hello all,

This project aims to decouple the build process of the ports framework 
from the local installation.  To work around the assumptions made by 
ports about dependency file locations, a userspace tool to remap 
processes' filesystem namespaces is under development.

This past week, I have made the following progress:
- Filesystem namespace intercept tool now redirects paths to shared 
object files read by rtld.
- Fixed several problems with running programs under the namespace tool.
- Developed a plan for providing correct ldconfig behavior for programs 
run as part of port building.

What I am working on next:
- Implement ldconfig fix.
- Create a port of freebsd-user-namespace to be used by ports framework, 
similarly to how ports-mgmt/pkg is used.
- Set up automated testing of ports to assess progress and catch 
regressions.

Project goals and status are kept at 
https://wiki.freebsd.org/SummerOfCode2019Projects/PortsSeparatedBuild .

Source of the userspace filesystem namespace tool is shared at 
https://github.com/therontarigo/freebsd-user-namespace .
Changes to ports framework are shared at 
https://github.com/freebsd/freebsd-ports/compare/master...therontarigo:master 
.

Theron Tarigo