Hitchhiker's Guide to Openbsd

party application, for controlling 
●
where and how to fetch the source of the software, 
●
which other software it depends upon, 
●
how to alter the sources (if necessary), 
●
how to configure and build it, 
●
how to test it (optional), 
●
how to install it. 
Apart from the Makefile, each port also contains at least the following: 
●
a PLIST or packing list, which contains instructions for package creation once the application has 
been built, 
●
a DESCR or description of the application, 
●
a distfile, containing distribution file checksums and size. 
All this information is kept in a directory hierarchy under 
/usr/ports
. This hierarchy contains three 
special subdirectories: 
●
distfiles/
- where the ports system stores software distribution sets after downloading. 
●
infrastructure/
- the main directory of the ports infrastructure, containing all necessary 
scripts and makefiles. 
●
packages/
- contains all binary packages built by the ports system. 
The other subdirectories all form different application categories, which contain the subdirectories of the 
http://www.openbsd.org/faq/faq15.html (11 of 27)9/4/2011 10:02:29 AM

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15 - The OpenBSD packages and ports system
actual ports. Complex ports may be organized to an even deeper level, for example if they have a core 
part and a set of extensions, or a stable and a snapshot version of the application. Every port directory 
must contain a 
pkg/
subdirectory containing packing list(s) and description file(s). There may also be 
patches/
and 
files/
subdirectories, for source patches and additional files, respectively. 
When a user issues 
make(1)
 in the subdirectory of a specific port, the system will recursively walk its 
dependency tree, check whether the required dependencies are installed, build and install any missing 
dependencies, and then continue the build of the desired port. All of the building happens inside the 
working directory that the port creates. Normally it is under 
${WRKOBJDIR}
, defaulting to /usr/ports/
pobj, but you may override this (see 
Configuration of the ports system
). If 
WRKOBJDIR
has been 
explicitly unset, a subdirectory of the port's main directory (package name prefixed by "w-") will be 
used instead. 
Note: Ports are never directly installed on your system! They use a fake installation directory. 
Everything that gets installed there, is bundled together into a package (which is stored in the 
packages/
subdirectory of the ports tree as mentioned earlier). Installing a port really means: creating 
a package, and then installing that package!