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Date:      Sat, 17 Mar 2001 12:53:49 -0800
From:      Kris Kennaway <kris@obsecurity.org>
To:        Eric M Logan <eric_m_logan@yahoo.com>
Cc:        "freebsd-stable@FreeBSD.ORG" <freebsd-stable@FreeBSD.ORG>
Subject:   Re: ports vs. packages...
Message-ID:  <20010317125349.E22316@mollari.cthul.hu>
In-Reply-To: <3AB3C1C2.67E1AB9B@yahoo.com>; from eric_m_logan@yahoo.com on Sat, Mar 17, 2001 at 11:57:54AM -0800
References:  <3AB3C1C2.67E1AB9B@yahoo.com>

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On Sat, Mar 17, 2001 at 11:57:54AM -0800, Eric M Logan wrote:
>     Can anyone tell me if there's any advantage(s) to installing
> applications from the ports collection as opposed to just using the
> available packages.  This is of course, aside from the ability to
> manipulate a variable or two or when there are no precompiled binaries
> available.  It just seems to me that using packages is so much quicker
> and more convenient.  Would compiling from the ports collection
> implement some enhancements for your particular processor for instance?
> Any help would be appreciated.  Thanks.

There are three main benefits I can think of:

* You get to choose your compiler settings.  This includes things like
  -march=<...> to optimize for your processor (e.g. check out the
  CPUTYPE setting in /etc/defaults/make.conf on 4.3)

* There is always a lag of about 2 days between when a port is
  available and when the package is rebuilt from it.  This may be
  relevant for updates you really want/need, like security or bugfix
  updates.

* You have finer control over build knobs, e.g. some ports adapt
  themselves to what other stuff you have installed on the system
  (GNOME, esound, etc) and will configure themselves to use it.  There
  are lots of "manual" knobs for enabling/disabling features too.

Kris
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