Date: Sat, 22 Aug 1998 16:43:40 -0400 From: "G.R. Gaudreau" <grgaud@sprint.ca> To: freebsd-newbies@FreeBSD.ORG Subject: Re: Ports (was: FreeBSD main platform & Linux) Message-ID: <3.0.6.32.19980822164340.007a5100@pop3.sprint.ca> In-Reply-To: <35DF29AC.70062752@verinet.com> References: <3.0.1.32.19980821053638.0068ea4c@pop.netaddress.com> <3.0.5.32.19980822074143.007a1aa0@pop3.sprint.ca> <3.0.6.32.19980822142714.007a9a20@pop3.sprint.ca>
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At 02:27 PM 8/22/98 -0600, Allen Campbell wrote: >This is the classic case of a much too overloaded term. I'll share what >I know. > >I'll start with the FreeBSD ports collection. To 'port' software is to >make it compatible with another platform. A person doing this is may be >called a porter, who is porting software. The result is sometimes >called a port. FreeBSD maintains a large and growing collection of >these ports. Using these ports, you may obtain the standard >distribution of some piece of software and allow the ports system to >automatically 'patch' and install the distribution. The handbook and >the ports man page have more information on the FreeBSD ports >collection. <snipped for brevity> >The 'soft' ports you mentioned I don't recognize. Thanks a bunch Allen, I wasn't sure what those were. I knew about the software ports, and had heard about the IP ports, but didn't know how and why they were used. The term "soft ports" was my way of distiguinshing between hardware ports (Com 1 & 2, printer ports on computers) and IP ports which seem te me to be of the "software" type. Perhaps that's a mistaken understanding I have of the difference between what is hardware and software. I assumed that because IP ports are part of a software program, that I could legitimately call them soft ports, as opposed to physical ports on a computer's motherboard, though I realize that the term may not be commonly used. Regards, G.R. GAUDREAU <grgaud@sprint.ca> <http://www.geocities.com/Athens/Forum/5783/>; SBG-KEY: 4002-7dc5-50c9-eb0d-b07b-7442 The opinions expressed above are my own, and do not necessarely reflect my own. To Unsubscribe: send mail to majordomo@FreeBSD.org with "unsubscribe freebsd-newbies" in the body of the message
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