Ports Tree: FreeBSD way to distribute package

Introduction

Laymen explanation

Suppose you are using freebsd OS and wants to install a package. What you will do it? One way is to search internet and download the package and copy to freebsd box, if downloaded in other box. Thenafter install it. Note that it involves multiple steps. I wish if I can automate these steps. Ports tree does exactly the same for you. It provides the simple steps to install a package to FreeBSD box.

Technical explanation

The base system of FreeBSD includes Portsnap. This is a fast and user-friendly tool for retrieving the Ports Collection and is the recommended choice for most users. This utility connects to a FreeBSD site, verifies the secure key, and downloads a new copy of the Ports Collection. The key is used to verify the integrity of all downloaded files.

• 1. To download a compressed snapshot of the Ports Collection into /var/db/portsnap:

     1. # portsnap fetch

  2. When running Portsnap for the first time, extract the snapshot into /usr/ports:

• • 1. # portsnap extract

• 3. After the first use of Portsnap has been completed as shown above, /usr/ports can be updated as needed by running:

• • 1. # portsnap fetch# portsnap update

    2. When using fetch, the extract or the update operation may be run consecutively, like so:

    3. # portsnap fetch update

Installing Package

As an example, lets install wget.

After the ports have been updated succesfully, you can start installing wget:

# which wget

/usr/ports/ftp/wget

# cd /usr/ports/ftp/wget

# make install clean

# rehash

Reference

https://www.freebsd.org/doc/handbook/ports-using.html

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ports_collection

http://linuxg.net/how-to-install-wget-on-freebsd-9-0/