Date: Wed, 12 Feb 1997 21:02:12 -0800 (PST) From: Doug White <dwhite@gdi.uoregon.edu> To: "Frank A. Herda, C.M.H." <fherda@herda.com> Cc: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org Subject: Re: pkg_add - A package or a port Message-ID: <Pine.BSI.3.94.970212205509.300G-100000@localhost> In-Reply-To: <19970212161126.AAA6891@dcro6.dcro.dla.mil>
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On Wed, 12 Feb 1997, Frank A. Herda, C.M.H. wrote: > Thanks to all who sent me information on the > problem I was having with pkg_add. > > It seems the I didn't know the difference between > a package and a port. A port is a directory that contains patches and scripts to take a program's distribution archive and turn it into a compiled program that works with FreeBSD. By typing 'make' in the port's directory, the port will retrieve the source archive from /usr/ports/distfiles or off the Internet, extract, patch, configure, and compile the program; running 'make install' as root completes the install by copying the program files to the proper places. You can easily ftp these from ftp.freebsd.org by typing 'get port.tar.gz' which will automatically bundle up the port's directory and send it as a tar-gzip'd file, which you extract by running 'tar xzf port.tar.gz'. A package is a large archive containing a program pre-built and ready to run on FreeBSD. All you have to do is type 'pkg_add package-x.y.z.tgz' as root and the rest is done for you. give a URL like ftp://blah.someplace.com/path/to/package.tgz as the location and pkg_add will even fetch it for you! These are good if you have a small machine that doesn't compile things quickly and you don't want to mess with the port. Unfortunately, you're stuck with whatever options were compiled into the program, so if you need to set an option to be compiled in, you'll have to use the port. Installed packages are registered with the system and may be removed by typing 'pkg_delete package-x.y.z'. Hope this helps. > Thanks to the people on this mailing list I'm begining to get a handle > on who things work in the FreeBSD enviornment. That's what we're here for. Doug White | University of Oregon Internet: dwhite@resnet.uoregon.edu | Residence Networking Assistant http://gladstone.uoregon.edu/~dwhite | Computer Science Major
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