Date: Tue, 20 Jan 2009 17:29:24 -0500 From: "Thomas W. Holloway" <twh359@earthlink.net> To: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org Subject: Newbie: offline package use / XFCE. Message-ID: <op.un2t3an4zupx9r@dialup-4.249.15.110.dial1.washington2.level3.net>
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Greetings from newbie land. I have what I hope is a simple question about using packages offline, with particular reference to XFCE if that matters. I am not so much asking "how do I do this?" as I am "Do I understand this correctly?" I have read the appropriate sections of the Handbook, Lehey's _Complete FreeBSD_ (both paragraphs :) ), and Lucas' _Absolute FreeBSD (2nd ed.). I have googled and done some searching of this list's archives, and couldn't tease the answer out of them. As you will see, it would be a LOT of work to "just try it", so I don't feel too bad about asking before diving in. I would like to install XFCE on a FreeBSD 7.1 box that is and will remain (for now) offline. No network connection at all. If I have read correctly, this means downloading the appropriate package(s) and using pkg_add. So far, so good (I haven't done it, but it seems clear enough). The package for XFCE4, as listed here http://www.freebsd.org/ports/xfce.html is a "meta-port" (I believe I understand the idea), which seems to have about one hundred (100) dependencies. Of course, some of those will have dependencies of their own, and so on. My question is this: In order to "download/ftp the package" for XFCE4, I would have to obtain all hundred (or so) of the listed files _and_ any dependencies they may have so as to point pkg_add at them locally. Is this correct? If not correct, what have I missed (a pointer to what I've missed should be sufficient). I've also looked at it from the XFCE side, where there is a nice, detailed doc by Benedikt Meurer, here http://www.os-works.com/documentation/xfce-installers/4.2.1/xfce-installer/ This strongly implies that I can bypass the pkg_add procedure entirely. Might be worth trying, but I'd still like to know if I've understood what the package listing above is saying. Editorial comment and/or general advice on XFCE is not unwelcome. It's just secondary to the question. Thanks in advance, and regards, Tom Holloway. PS: I almost forgot the traditional "PLEASE HELP!!!" ;) But this is not for work and I am not on any deadline whatever.
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