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From: James Raynard <fqueries@jraynard.demon.co.uk>
Message-Id: <199607271738.RAA03223@jraynard.demon.co.uk>
Subject: Re: distfile, makefile, etc
To: Ken Marsh <durang@u.washington.edu>
Date: Sat, 27 Jul 1996 17:38:28 +0000 ()
Cc: questions@freebsd.org
In-Reply-To: <Pine.A32.3.92a.960726203840.9827M-100000@homer27.u.washington.edu> from "Ken Marsh" at Jul 26, 96 08:42:08 pm
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> 
> This makefile/distfile is still an alien concept to me. I would like to
> install elm on my system. I understand that I must compile it myself, and
> that a makefile is some kind of compilation control. I've gathered this
> from the docs on make and man pages.
> 
> I have figured out how to extract binarys, and installed X using the
> cat|tar combo.
> 
> Does anyone know of a website or other documentation that really spells
> out the process of compiling something like elm on a FreeBSD system?

Please refer to the Handbook entry on ports (section 4.2), which
explains in detail how it all works.