The Ports and Packages System


The OpenBSD ports and packages system is a software-building system designed to simplify the configuration and installation of software. Originally developed by the FreeBSD Project, ports were quickly picked up on and expanded upon by the OpenBSD team.

Ports are instructions for compiling software on that particular version of OpenBSD, and packages are simply precompiled ports. Packages install more quickly, and can save a lot of time when installing software that doesn't need customization. Ports install more slowly, but can be easily customized or optimized for your environment.

The basic idea behind the ports and packages system is very simple: If software must be modified to run on OpenBSD, then the modifications should be automated. Because you're automating the installation process, you should record what files the software installs so you can most easily uninstall it. And because you have a software-building process that creates the exact same result every time, and you've recorded everything that the program-building process creates, you can use these as instructions to install your compiled program on any other OpenBSD system.

The whole system, including the build process, the package-building process, and the install/uninstall process, is called the ports collection, the ports tree, or even just ports.




Absolute Openbsd(c) Unix for the Practical Paranoid
Absolute OpenBSD: Unix for the Practical Paranoid
ISBN: 1886411999
EAN: 2147483647
Year: 2005
Pages: 298

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