Ports HowTo

Table of Contents

Where are they?

By default every port is installed into it's own directory in /usr/src/ports/. You can change it with a configure option when you install spkgtool.

How do I use them?

Spkgtool will allow you to build and install your ports. But developers and power users will probably want to bust out ye'ol xterm and use the command line. To work with a particular port, simply "cd" to that port's directory (ie: /usr/src/ports/ed for the "ed" port) and use "make" with one of the following targets:

# make download :       Download sources
# make unpack:          Unpack source
# make patch:           Patch source
# make configure:       Configure
# make build:           Build
# make install:         Do it all
# make register:        Register install info
# make md5:             Download source and update checksum
# make clean:           Remove source build directory
# make tarball-clean:   Remove source tarball
# make real-clean:      clean and tarball-clean
# make link:            Link package into main tree
# make Web:             Build a web page describing the package

Making a new port

  1. Create a directory
    2. $ mkdir /usr/src/ports/foo
  2. Create a Makefile
    3. $ vi /usr/src/ports/foo/Makefile
  3. Create a checksum file
    4. $ cd /usr/src/ports/foo
$ make md5
  4. Test it
    5. $ make install
  5. Clean it up
    6. $ make real-clean
  6. Tar it up
    7. $ cd ../
$ tar zcvf foo-port.tar.gz foo
  7. Send it to me

Stages of a build

There are seven stages to a build, in which you have the power to add custom targets. All of these have "pre" and "post" hooks (see All Options for Porting)

  1. DOWNLOAD
  2. UNPACK
  3. PATCH
  4. CONFIGURE
  5. BUILD
  6. INSTALL
  7. LINK

Targets and Variables

There are two options to add to a ports Makefile, targets and variables. "Targets" are used to define custom "make targets" (make the install procedure do something out of the ordinary). "Variables" are used for things like adding options and features as well as describe the port. The examples should clear this up.

Bare Bones Makefile

The following is the smallest possible Makefile and actually works on alot of packages, if they install with the usual "./configure; make; make prefix=/usr/local/pkgs/package-version install"

PORTNAME=      autoconf
PORTVERSION=   2.13
CATEGORIES=    devel
MASTER_SITES=  ${MASTER_GNU_SITE}/autoconf
DISTFILES=     ${PORTNAME}-${PORTVERSION}.tar.gz
DIRECTORY=     ${PORTNAME}-${PORTVERSION}

MAINTAINER=    larry@scrudgeware.org

include spkg.port.mk

A simple example

Here's a simple example with extra variables and a custom targets. This package doesn't run the "./configure" command and has some special options to use with "make". It also has a custom target that runs "ldconfig" after the package is linked into the main tree.

PORTNAME=	ld.so
PORTVERSION=	1.9.9
CATEGORIES=	sysutils
MASTER_SITES=	${MASTER_SUNSITE_SITE}/GCC/
DISTFILES=	${PORTNAME}-${PORTVERSION}.tar.gz
DIRECTORY=	${PORTNAME}-${PORTVERSION}
MAINTAINER=	larry@scrudgeware.org

NO_CONFIGURE=	yes

MAKE_FLAGS=-C util ldd ldconfig

post-link:
	/sbin/ldconfig

include spkg.port.mk

All Options for Porting

The following contains all the targets and variables available. If you need all these, you should problably send an email to the developers of the package you are trying to port and tell them to fix their stuff :-)

PORTNAME=	 
PORTVERSION= 
DESCRIPTION=
CATEGORIES=	
DEPENDENCIES= 
MASTER_SITES= 
DISTFILES=
PATCHFILES=
DIRECTORY=
MAINTAINER=	

include spkg.port.mk

pre-download:
post-download:

NO_DOWNLOAD=yes

pre-patch:
post-patch:

NO_PATCH=yes

pre-unpack:
post-unpack:

NO_UNPACK=yes

pre-configure:
post-configure:

CONFIGURE_COMMAND=
CONFIGURE_OPTIONS=
CONFIGURE_FLAGS=
NO_CONFIGURE=yes

pre-build:
post-build:

MAKE_OPTIONS=
NO_MAKE=yes

pre-install:
post-install:

MAKE_INSTALL_OPTIONS=
INSTALL_FLAGS=
NO_INSTALL=yes

pre-link:
post-link:

NO_LINK=yes

pre-web:
post-web:

NO_WEB=yes