From owner-freebsd-questions@FreeBSD.ORG Tue Feb 6 14:57:14 2007 Return-Path: X-Original-To: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org Delivered-To: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org Received: from mx1.freebsd.org (mx1.freebsd.org [69.147.83.52]) by hub.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id 3ACDB16A400 for ; Tue, 6 Feb 2007 14:57:13 +0000 (UTC) (envelope-from bsd-unix@earthlink.net) Received: from fall-pradero.atl.sa.earthlink.net (fall-pradero.atl.sa.earthlink.net [207.69.195.104]) by mx1.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id 13D8713C481 for ; Tue, 6 Feb 2007 14:57:13 +0000 (UTC) (envelope-from bsd-unix@earthlink.net) Received: from pop-savannah.atl.sa.earthlink.net ([207.69.195.69]) by fall-pradero.atl.sa.earthlink.net with esmtp (Exim 4.34) id 1HERaa-0001qE-DW for freebsd-questions@freebsd.org; Tue, 06 Feb 2007 09:46:32 -0500 Received: from fl-71-54-28-212.dhcp.embarqhsd.net ([71.54.28.212] helo=kt.weeeble.com) by pop-savannah.atl.sa.earthlink.net with smtp (Exim 3.36 #1) id 1HERaY-0007Ds-00; Tue, 06 Feb 2007 09:46:30 -0500 Date: Tue, 6 Feb 2007 09:46:29 -0500 From: Randy Pratt To: "n j" Message-Id: <20070206094629.da378da5.bsd-unix@earthlink.net> In-Reply-To: <92bcbda50702060514n70349b11j56e8b93e151fbcdb@mail.gmail.com> References: <92bcbda50702060514n70349b11j56e8b93e151fbcdb@mail.gmail.com> X-Mailer: Sylpheed 2.3.1 (GTK+ 2.10.8; i386-portbld-freebsd6.2) Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Cc: FreeBSD Questions Subject: Re: Makefile knobs X-BeenThere: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org X-Mailman-Version: 2.1.5 Precedence: list List-Id: User questions List-Unsubscribe: , List-Archive: List-Post: List-Help: List-Subscribe: , X-List-Received-Date: Tue, 06 Feb 2007 14:57:14 -0000 On Tue, 6 Feb 2007 14:14:29 +0100 "n j" wrote: > Hello, > > I have a question regarding the various knobs one can set while > building a port. The problem as I see it is that the user usually has > to be a makefile lingo expert (okay, not an expert, but you catch my > drift) to decipher all the various options and set perhaps only the > one he really needs. So, my question is: is there a port that does > that for you? Reads makefile options from a makefile and prints them > out in a nicely ordered way to you? If there's no such port, is it > actually possible to create one (meaning is it possible to get needed > information from a makefile in an automated fashion)? The "portsopt" might be what you're looking for: Shows WITH(OUT)-knobs of a port makefile and if you want also the knobs of all port dependencies. WWW: http://www.chruetertee.ch/portsopt/ It has recently moved from the sysutils category to ports-mgmt category. Its location will depend on when you last updated your ports tree. While it will show various knobs, their purpose may not be apparent without further investigation. There are quite a few ports that have an options screen which you can access by first doing a "make config" before building and selecting options. It will store those options in /var/db/ports/... directories and use them for future builds ("man 7 ports" for more info). I would suspect that more ports will use this approach in the future. HTH, Randy --