ports vs source

[Bill Moran]

Cristi Tauber <cristi.tauber at sbhost.ro> wrote:

>      Hello there,
>   Can anyone tell me which are the avantages of installing from ports
> rather than installing from tar balls ? I am kind of new to BSD, and I'm
> familiar with linux install from tar & stuff. I know to give the
> switches to configure to tune the source for installation ... but how i
> can find the parameters for port install ? I mean ... let's say i want
> to install php and i have to give the path to mysql, apache and others
> graphical libraries ... how can I do that with ports ? 
>    Any link or explications about this subject is appreciated.

http://www.freebsd.org/doc/en_US.ISO8859-1/books/handbook/ports-overview.html

-- 
Bill Moran
Potential Technologies
http://www.potentialtech.com