From nobody Thu Sep 12 18:25:21 2024 X-Original-To: questions@mlmmj.nyi.freebsd.org Received: from mx1.freebsd.org (mx1.freebsd.org [IPv6:2610:1c1:1:606c::19:1]) by mlmmj.nyi.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id 4X4Qpy2wpsz5WS5x for ; Thu, 12 Sep 2024 18:25:30 +0000 (UTC) (envelope-from fatty.merchandise677@aceecat.org) Received: from beesty.loosely.org (beesty.loosely.org [IPv6:2600:3c01:e000:4c0::2]) (using TLSv1.3 with cipher TLS_AES_256_GCM_SHA384 (256/256 bits) key-exchange X25519 server-signature RSA-PSS (4096 bits) server-digest SHA256) (Client did not present a certificate) by mx1.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTPS id 4X4Qpx490lz4clp for ; Thu, 12 Sep 2024 18:25:29 +0000 (UTC) (envelope-from fatty.merchandise677@aceecat.org) Authentication-Results: mx1.freebsd.org; dkim=none; dmarc=none; spf=pass (mx1.freebsd.org: domain of fatty.merchandise677@aceecat.org designates 2600:3c01:e000:4c0::2 as permitted sender) smtp.mailfrom=fatty.merchandise677@aceecat.org Received: from localhost ([::1] helo=beesty ident=itz) by beesty with esmtp (Exim 4.98-4-9cb179d48) (envelope-from ) id 1sooVM-000000007np-1GgY for questions@freebsd.org; Thu, 12 Sep 2024 11:25:21 -0700 Date: Thu, 12 Sep 2024 11:25:21 -0700 From: fatty.merchandise677@aceecat.org To: questions@freebsd.org Subject: port installation basics Message-ID: Mail-Followup-To: questions@freebsd.org List-Id: User questions List-Archive: https://lists.freebsd.org/archives/freebsd-questions List-Help: List-Post: List-Subscribe: List-Unsubscribe: X-BeenThere: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org Sender: owner-freebsd-questions@FreeBSD.org MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Content-Disposition: inline X-Spamd-Bar: -- X-Spamd-Result: default: False [-2.55 / 15.00]; NEURAL_HAM_SHORT(-0.99)[-0.992]; NEURAL_HAM_LONG(-0.92)[-0.920]; NEURAL_HAM_MEDIUM(-0.44)[-0.439]; R_SPF_ALLOW(-0.20)[+mx]; MIME_GOOD(-0.10)[text/plain]; ONCE_RECEIVED(0.10)[]; RCVD_COUNT_ONE(0.00)[1]; ASN(0.00)[asn:63949, ipnet:2600:3c01::/32, country:SG]; MISSING_XM_UA(0.00)[]; FROM_NO_DN(0.00)[]; RCPT_COUNT_ONE(0.00)[1]; MIME_TRACE(0.00)[0:+]; TO_MATCH_ENVRCPT_ALL(0.00)[]; ARC_NA(0.00)[]; DMARC_NA(0.00)[aceecat.org]; RCVD_TLS_LAST(0.00)[]; TO_DN_NONE(0.00)[]; MLMMJ_DEST(0.00)[questions@freebsd.org]; MID_RHS_MATCH_FROM(0.00)[]; R_DKIM_NA(0.00)[]; FROM_EQ_ENVFROM(0.00)[] X-Rspamd-Queue-Id: 4X4Qpx490lz4clp Hello, I'm trying FreeBSD again (penguin news is depressing) and I face again some of the problems I remember. I am torn between packages and ports. I read discouraging things about using both, and yet I seem to need both for the following reasons: - there are a few things I absolutely must have on a system to do anything at all (so in particular, to set up and compile ports): bash, sudo, screen, vim, rsync, git. I think that covers it. These are not in the base, so I must install packages for them. This alone wouldn't be a show stopper because I could rebuild them from ports once I'm up and running. But. - I have not figured out how to build ports without getting sucked into unbounded rabbit holes of configuration dialogs. I know the advice to do `make config-recursive` upfront, but it doesn't help: what seems to be happening is that I get config dialogs for *all potential* recursive dependencies of the port I'm building, regardless of my answers along the way. For example, even if I exclude X11 support in git configuration, I am then confronted with dialogs which are only relevant to gitk. Is there any way to avoid this? - on the other hand, some packages are egregiously over-configured, often with GUI extras I have no use for. For example, graphviz. I just want to run dot to build png or pdf files. So this would be a good time to use a port (which I assume can disable the GUI parts), if it weren't for the above. Your thoughts? Thanks, -- Ian