man/man7/ports.7

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.\" $OpenBSD: ports.7,v 1.132 2023/09/07 17:19:19 espie Exp $
.\" $FreeBSD: ports.7,v 1.7 1998/06/23 04:38:50 hoek Exp $
.\"
.Dd $Mdocdate: September 7 2023 $
.Dt PORTS 7
.Os
.Sh NAME
.Nm ports
.Nd contributed applications
.Sh DESCRIPTION
The
.Ox
Ports Collection
is the infrastructure used to create binary packages for third party
applications.
.Pp
For normal usage refer to
.Xr packages 7 ,
as most ports produce binary packages which are available from
the official HTTP mirrors.
.Pp
Each port contains any patches necessary to make the original
application source code compile and run on
.Ox .
Compiling an application is as simple as typing
.Ic make
in the port directory!
The
.Pa Makefile
automatically fetches the
application source code, either from a local disk or via HTTP, unpacks it
on the local system, applies the patches, and compiles it.
If all goes well, simply type
.Ic doas make install
to install the application.
.Pp
For more information about using ports, see
.Lk https://www.openbsd.org/faq/ports/ports.html "Working with Ports" .
For information about creating new ports, see
.Lk https://www.openbsd.org/faq/ports/ "The OpenBSD Porter's Handbook" .
.Pp
For a detailed description of the build process, see
.Xr bsd.port.mk 5 .
.Sh PORTS MASTER MAKEFILE
The ports master Makefile, normally located in
.Pa /usr/ports/Makefile
(but see
.Ev PORTSDIR
below)
offers a few deprecated targets for the time being.
.Bl -tag -width print-index
.It Cm print-index
display the contents of the index in a
.Sq user-friendly
way,
.It Cm search
invoked with a key, e.g.,
.Ic make search key=foo ,
retrieve information relevant to a given port (obsolescent).
.El
.Pp
Starting in
.Ox 4.0 ,
there is a port,
.Pa databases/sqlports ,
that builds an sqlite database containing most information relevant to
every port in the ports tree.
This database can be searched using any tool able to manipulate such
databases, for instance sqlitebrowser, or a script language with an
sqlite interface, e.g., perl, python, ocaml, lua, php.
.Pp
All static index generating information has now been superseded by the
.Pa sqlports ,
.Pa portslist
or
.Pa pkglocatedb
packages, which contain
similar information to the old INDEX file, but are frequently updated.
See
.Pa databases/sqlports
.Pa databases/pkglocatedb
and
.Xr pkg_mklocatedb 1
for details.
.Sh SELECTING A SET OF PORTS
One can define
.Ev SUBDIRLIST
to point to a file that contains a list of
.Ev FULLPKGPATHs ,
one per line, to build stuff only in some directories.
.Pp
If
.Pa portslist
is up to date, it is possible to select subsets by setting the following
variables on the command line:
.Bl -tag -width category
.It Va key
package name matching the given key,
.It Va category
port belonging to category,
.It Va maintainer
port maintained by a given person.
.El
.Pp
For instance, to invoke
.Cm clean
on all ports in the x11 category, one can say:
.Bd -literal -offset indent
$ make category=x11 clean
.Ed
.Pp
The index search is done by a perl script, so all regular expressions from
.Xr perlre 1
apply.
.Sh TARGETS
Individual ports are controlled through a few documented targets.
Some of these targets work recursively through subdirectories, so that
someone can, for example, install all of the net
ports.
.Pp
The variable
.Ev SKIPDIR
can hold a set of package directories to avoid during recursion.
These are always specified relative to the root of the ports tree,
and can contain a flavor or subpackage part
.Po
see
.Xr packages-specs 7
.Pc .
.Ev SKIPDIR
is handled by a
.Ic case
statement, and so can contain simple wildcards
.Po
see
.Xr sh 1
.Dq File name patterns
.Pc ,
e.g., SKIPDIR='editors/openoffice*'.
.Pp
The variable
.Ev STARTDIR
can hold the path to a starting directory.
The recursion will skip all directories up to that package path.
This can be used to resume a full build at some specific point without having
to go through thousands of directories first.
.Pp
The variable
.Ev STARTAFTER
can hold the path to a starting directory.
The recursion will skip all directories up to and including that package path.
This can be used to resume a full build after some specific point without having
to go through thousands of directories first.
.Pp
In case of failure in a subdirectory, the shell fragment held in
.Ev REPORT_PROBLEM
is executed.
Default behavior is to call exit, but this can be overridden on the command
line, e.g., to avoid stopping after each problem.
.Bd -literal -offset indent
$ make REPORT_PROBLEM=true
.Ed
.Pp
If
.Ev REPORT_PROBLEM_LOGFILE
is non empty, then
.Ev REPORT_PROBLEM
will default to:
.Bd -literal -offset indent
echo $$subdir ($@) >>$${REPORT_PROBLEM_LOGFILE}
.Ed
.Pp
That is, any failure will append the faulty directory name together
with the target that failed to
.Pa ${REPORT_PROBLEM_LOGFILE}
and proceed.
.Pp
Some targets that do this are
.Cm all , build , checksum , clean ,
.Cm configure , extract , fake ,
.Cm fetch , install , distclean ,
.Cm deinstall , reinstall , package , prepare ,
.Cm show , regress ,
.Cm lib-depends-check ,
.Cm license-check , all-dir-depends , build-dir-depends ,
.Cm run-dir-depends
and
.Cm generate-readmes .
.Pp
Target names starting with
.Sq _
are private to the ports infrastructure,
should not be invoked directly, and are liable to change without notice.
.Pp
In the following list, each target will run the preceding targets
in order automatically.
That is,
.Cm build
will be run
.Pq if necessary
by
.Cm install ,
and so on all the way to
.Cm fetch .
In typical use, one will only run
.Cm install
explicitly (as normal user, with
.Ev SUDO
defined in
.Pa /etc/mk.conf ) ,
or
.Cm build
(as user), then
.Cm install
(as root).
.Bl -tag -width configure
.It Cm fetch
Fetch all of the files needed to build this port from the site(s)
listed in
.Ev SITES .
See
.Ev FETCH_CMD .
Use
.Xr dpb 1
with option
.Fl F
to quickly fetch distfiles for a subtree.
.It Cm checksum
Verify that the fetched distfile matches the one the port was tested against.
Defining
.Ev NO_CHECKSUM
to
.Dv Yes
will skip this step.
Sometimes, distfiles change without warning.
The main
.Ox
mirror should still hold a copy of old distfiles, indexed by checksum.
Using
.Bd -literal -offset indent
$ make checksum REFETCH=true
.Ed
.Pp
will try to get a set of distfiles that match the recorded checksum.
.It Cm prepare
Install
any build dependencies of the current port.
Defining
.Ev NO_DEPENDS
to
.Dv Yes
will skip this step.
.It Cm extract
Expand the distfile into a work directory.
.It Cm patch
Apply any patches that are necessary for the port.
.It Cm gen
Recreate configure machinery if needed, mainly used by GNU based software
that wants autogen/autoconf/automake.
.It Cm configure
Configure the port.
Some ports will ask questions during this stage.
See
.Ev INTERACTIVE
and
.Ev BATCH .
.It Cm build
Build the port.
This is the same as calling the
.Cm all
target.
.It Cm fake
Pretend to install the port under a subdirectory of the work directory.
.It Cm generate-readmes
Create READMEs and rc scripts under the fake subdirectory.
.It Cm package
Create a binary package from the fake installation.
The package is a .tgz file that can be used to
install the port with
.Xr pkg_add 1 .
.It Cm install
Install the resulting package.
.El
.Pp
The following targets are not run during the normal install process
.Po
exception
.Cm clean
is run for dependencies with the default settings of
.Ev BULK Ns = Ns Dv Auto
.Pc .
.Bl -tag -width fetch-list
.It Cm print-build-depends , print-run-depends
Print an ordered list of all the compile and run dependencies.
.It Cm clean
Remove the expanded source code.
This does not recurse to dependencies unless
.Ev CLEANDEPENDS
is defined to
.Dv Yes .
.It Cm distclean
Remove the port's distfile(s).
This does not recurse to dependencies.
.It Cm regress
Runs the ports regression tests.
Usually needs a completed build.
.It Cm reinstall
Use this to restore a port after using
.Xr pkg_delete 1 .
.It Cm update
Alternative target to
.Cm install .
Does not install new packages, but updates existing ones.
.El
.Sh LOCK INFRASTRUCTURE
The ports tree can be used concurrently for building several ports at the
same time, thanks to a locking mechanism.
By default, locks are stored under
.Pa /tmp/portslocks .
Defining
.Ev LOCKDIR
will point them elsewhere, or disable the mechanism if set to an empty value.
.Pp
All locks will be stored in
.Pa ${LOCKDIR} .
.Ev LOCK_CMD
should be used to acquire a lock, and
.Ev UNLOCK_CMD
should be used to release it.
.Pp
Locks are named
.Pa ${LOCKDIR}/${FULLPKGNAME}.lock ,
or
.Pa ${LOCKDIR}/${DISTFILE}.lock
for distfiles fetching.
.Pp
The default values of
.Ev LOCK_CMD
and
.Ev UNLOCK_CMD
are appropriate for most uses.
.Pp
The locking protocol follows a big-lock model: each top-level target
in a port directory will acquire the corresponding lock, complete its job,
then release the lock, e.g., running
.Bd -literal -offset indent
$ make build
.Ed
.Pp
will acquire the lock, run the port
through
.Cm fetch ,
.Cm checksum ,
.Cm extract ,
.Cm patch ,
.Cm configure ,
.Cm build ,
then release the lock.
If dependencies are involved, they will invoke top-level targets in other
directories, and thus acquire some other locks as well.
.Pp
The infrastructure contains some protection against acquiring the same lock
twice, thus recursive locking is not needed for
.Ev LOCK_CMD .
.Pp
Starting with
.Ox 4.3 ,
the infrastructure supports manual locking: the targets
.Cm lock
and
.Cm unlock
can be used to acquire and release individual locks.
Both these targets output a shell command that must be used to update
environment variables.
Manual locking can be used to protect a directory against interference
by an automated build job, while the user is looking at or modifying a
given port.
.Sh UPDATING PACKAGES
Instead of deinstalling each package and rebuilding from scratch, the
ports tree can be used to update installed packages.
The
.Cm update
target will replace an installed package using
.Xr pkg_add 1
in replacement mode.
If
.Ev FORCE_UPDATE
is set to
.Dv Yes ,
dependencies will also be updated first, and packages will always be updated,
even if there is no difference between the old and the new packages.
.Pp
Updates use a mechanism similar to bulk cookies and deposit cookies in
the
.Ev UPDATE_COOKIES_DIR .
See the next section for more details, since most of the fine points of
bulk package building also apply to updates.
.Pp
However, also note that
.Li make update
is not guaranteed to work, see
.Sx CAVEATS
below.
.Sh BULK PACKAGE BUILDING
Building any significant number of packages from the ports tree should use
.Xr dpb 1 ,
a tool located inside the ports tree proper
.Po
normally as
.Pa /usr/ports/infrastructure/bin/dpb
.Pc .
In particular, it can take advantage of machine clusters (same architecture
and same installation), and of multi-core machines.
.Pp
For more detailed information, see
.Xr bulk 8 .
.Sh FLAVORS
The
.Ox
ports tree comes with a mechanism called
.Ic FLAVORS .
Thanks to this mechanism, users can select specific options provided by
a given port.
.Pp
If a port is
.Qq flavored ,
there should be a terse description of available flavors in the
.Pa pkg/DESCR
file.
.Pp
For example, the
.Pa misc/screen
port comes with a flavor called
.Ic static .
This changes the building process so a statically compiled version of
the program will be built.
To avoid confusion with other packages or flavors,
the package name will be extended with a dash-separated list of
the selected flavors.
.Pp
In this instance, the corresponding package will be called
.Ic screen-4.0.2-static .
.Pp
To see the flavors of a port, use the
.Cm show
target:
.Bd -literal -offset indent
$ make show=FLAVORS
.Ed
.Pp
To build a port with a specific flavor, just pass
.Ev FLAVOR
in the environment of the
.Xr make 1
command:
.Bd -literal -offset indent
$ env FLAVOR="static" make package
.Ed
.Pp
and of course, use the same settings for the subsequent invocations of make:
.Bd -literal -offset indent
$ env FLAVOR="static" make install
$ env FLAVOR="static" make clean
.Ed
.Pp
More than one flavor may be specified:
.Bd -literal -offset indent
$ cd /usr/ports/mail/exim
$ env FLAVOR="mysql ldap" make package
.Ed
.Pp
Specifying a flavor that does not exist is an error.
Additionally, some ports impose some further restrictions on flavor
combinations, when such combinations do not make sense.
.Pp
Lots of ports can be built without X11 requirement and accordingly
have a
.Ic no_x11
flavor.
.Pp
Flavor settings are not propagated to dependencies.
If a specific combination is needed, careful hand-building of the
required set of packages is still necessary.
.Sh MULTI_PACKAGES
The
.Ox
ports tree comes with a mechanism called
.Ic MULTI_PACKAGES .
This mechanism is used when a larger package is broken down into
several smaller components referred to as subpackages.
.Pp
If a port is
.Qq subpackaged ,
each subpackage will have a corresponding description in the
.Pa pkg/DESCR-subpackage
file.
.Pp
For example, the
.Pa databases/mariadb
port comes with subpackages called
.Ic -main ,
.Ic -tests
and
.Ic -server .
.Pp
In this instance, the build will yield multiple packages, one
corresponding to each subpackage.
In the case of our mariadb example,
the packages will be called
.Ic mariadb-client-<version> ,
.Ic mariadb-tests-<version> ,
and
.Ic mariadb-server-<version> .
.Pp
To install/deinstall a specific subpackage of a port, you may
.Xr pkg_add 1
them manually, or alternatively, you may set
.Ev SUBPACKAGE
in the environment of the
.Xr make 1
command during the install/deinstall phase:
.Bd -literal -offset indent
$ env SUBPACKAGE="-server" make install
$ env SUBPACKAGE="-server" make deinstall
.Ed
.Sh PORT VARIABLES
These can be changed in the environment, or in
.Pa /etc/mk.conf
for persistence.
They can also be set on make's command line, e.g.,
.Ic make VAR_FOO Ns = Ns Dv foo
.Pp
Boolean variables should be set to
.Dv Yes
instead of simply being defined, for uniformity and future compatibility.
.Pp
Variable names starting with
.Sq _
are private to the ports infrastructure,
should not be changed by the user, and are liable to change without notice.
.Bl -tag -width PORTS_PRIVSEP
.It Ev PORTS_PRIVSEP
If set to
.Sq Yes ,
all operations will happen as restricted users
.Ar _pfetch
and
.Ar _pbuild .
.It Ev PORTSDIR
Location of the ports tree
(usually
.Pa /usr/ports ) .
.It Ev DISTDIR
Where to find/put distfiles, normally
.Pa ${PORTSDIR}/distfiles .
.It Ev PACKAGE_REPOSITORY
Used only for the
.Cm package
target; the base directory for the packages tree, normally
.Pa ${PORTSDIR}/packages .
If this directory exists, the package tree will be (partially) constructed.
.It Ev BULK_COOKIES_DIR
During bulk package building, used to store cookies for already built
packages to avoid rebuilding them, since the actual
working directory will already have been cleaned out.
Defaults to
.Pa ${PORTSDIR}/bulk/${MACHINE_ARCH} .
.It Ev UPDATE_COOKIES_DIR
Used to store cookies for package updates, defaults to
.Pa ${PORTSDIR}/update/${MACHINE_ARCH} .
If set to empty, it will revert to a file under
.Pa ${WRKDIR} .
.It Ev LOCALBASE
Where to install things in general
(usually
.Pa /usr/local ) .
.It Ev SITES
Primary sites for distribution files if not found locally.
.It Ev CLEANDEPENDS
If set to
.Dv Yes ,
let
.Cm clean
recurse to dependencies.
.It Ev FETCH_CMD
Command to use to fetch files.
Normally
.Xr ftp 1 .
.It Ev FETCH_PACKAGES
If set,
try to use as options to
.Xr pkg_add 1
to install missing packages from
.Ev PKG_PATH .
.Xr bsd.port.mk 5
does not set
.Ev FETCH_PACKAGES ,
so even an empty value amounts to setting the variable.
.Pp
For instance, to run
.Xr pkg_add 1
with default options :
.Bd -literal -offset indent
make FETCH_PACKAGES=
.Ed
.Pp
or, to use the snapshots directory during the final beta period:
.Bd -literal -offset indent
make FETCH_PACKAGES=-Dsnap
.Ed
.It Ev PATCH_DEBUG
If defined, display verbose output when applying each patch.
.It Ev INTERACTIVE
If defined, only operate on a port if it requires interaction.
.It Ev BATCH
If defined, only operate on a port if it can be installed 100% automatically.
.El
.Sh USING A READ-ONLY PORTS TREE
Select read-write partition(s) that can accommodate working directories, the
distfiles repository, and the built packages.
Set
.Ev WRKOBJDIR ,
.Ev PACKAGE_REPOSITORY ,
.Ev BULK_COOKIES_DIR ,
.Ev UPDATE_COOKIES_DIR ,
.Ev DISTDIR ,
and
.Ev PLIST_REPOSITORY
in
.Pa /etc/mk.conf
accordingly.
.Sh FILES
.Bl -tag -width /usr/ports/xxxxxxxx -compact
.It Pa /usr/ports
The default ports directory.
.It Pa /usr/ports/Makefile
Ports master Makefile.
.It Pa /usr/local/share/ports-INDEX
Ports index, part of the
.Pa portlist
package.
.It Pa /usr/ports/pobj
Build directories.
A number of insecurely coded ports require a dedicated file system with the
.Cm wxallowed
.Xr mount 8
option.
.It Pa /usr/ports/infrastructure/mk/bsd.port.mk
The ports main engine.
.It Pa /usr/ports/infrastructure/db/network.conf
Network configuration.
.It Pa /usr/ports/infrastructure/db/user.list
List of users and groups created by ports.
.El
.Sh SEE ALSO
.Xr dpb 1 ,
.Xr make 1 ,
.Xr pkg_add 1 ,
.Xr pkg_create 1 ,
.Xr pkg_delete 1 ,
.Xr pkg_info 1 ,
.Xr bsd.port.mk 5 ,
.Xr port-modules 5 ,
.Xr mirroring-ports 7 ,
.Xr packages 7
.Pp
The
.Ox
Ports System:
.Lk https://www.openbsd.org/faq/ports/ports.html
.Pp
The
.Ox
Porter's Handbook:
.Lk https://www.openbsd.org/faq/ports/
.Sh HISTORY
.Nm The Ports Collection
appeared in
.Fx 1.0 .
It was introduced in
.Ox
by Ejovi Nuwere, with much initial effort by Angelos D. Keromytis.
Maintenance passed then to Marco S. Hyman, and then to Christopher Turan.
It is currently managed by Marc Espie, Christian Weisgerber,
along with a host of others found at
.Mt ports@openbsd.org .
.Sh AUTHORS
This man page was originated by
.An David O'Brien ,
from the
.Fx
project.
.Sh CAVEATS
Building a new version of an already installed package is not guaranteed
to work.
.Pp
The safer way would be to create a sandbox for building the updated port
using
.Xr proot 1
.Po see also
.Xr bulk 8
.Pc ,
and then update the installed package.
.Pp
Specifically: most software expects building in a virgin environment
with only the required dependency.
As a result, lots of time, libraries and headers under
.Pa /usr/local
will be favored over the currently building version.