Debian apt-get / FreeBSD ports

[Dan O'Connor]

> Hello,
> I come from a Debian background, i normally 'apt-get update' the list 
> of
> the packages that apt-get mirrors serve before 'apt-get install'ing 
> any
> package. Is there anything like that while using FreeBSD ports? If no,
> How does ports know what are the versions of the latest packages?

Welcome to FreeBSD!

In FreeBSD, we use the CVS system to keep the ports tree up to date. You 
can use Ananymous CVS, CVSup, or Portsnap to keep your ports collection 
up to date.

More info can be found in the Handbook:
    http://www.freebsd.org/doc/en_US.ISO8859-1/books/handbook/anoncvs.html
    http://www.freebsd.org/doc/en_US.ISO8859-1/books/handbook/cvsup.html
    http://www.freebsd.org/doc/en_US.ISO8859-1/books/handbook/portsnap.html

Personally, I use CVSup. Here's a Cheat Sheet on how to set it up (for 
both FBSD sources and ports tree):
    http://www.mostgraveconcern.com/freebsd/sheet.cgi?cvsup

~Dan

--
FreeBSD Cheat Sheets
   http://www.mostgraveconcern.com/freebsd/