Fwd: package vs ports question

[Norberto Meijome]

On Mon, 27 Mar 2006 09:57:49 -0300
"Luiz Eduardo Guida Valmont" <legvalmont at gmail.com> wrote:

> Thanks for the answer. I just hope I'm not messing things too much.

np :)

> 
> So if a port may override a package, 

a port and a package are the same thing, in a different form :). the
tree structure under /usr/ports contains information about applications
ported to Freebsd. This information is used to compile each application
as needed for FBSD. You can do this yourself, therefore "installing it
from the ports". 

Or you can use the binary output of that compilation that someone else
did, and which is provided to you in the form of a package.

You may want to , like I do, have a binary installer of the apps you
are running, which is why I mentioned how you create, from the
ports, your own packages (remember, 'package' = 'binary result of
building/compiling a port'). 

( if someone wants to clarify my explanation, PLEASE go ahead :) )

> is the only solution to this
> generate a package then install it? 

no

> Now if this happens, what will
> happen for example (supposing I install everything from packages - or
> "make package" then pkg_add for that matter) 

make package will actually make the package and install it for you, you
dont need to do a pkg_add after that (yes, a bit counter-intuitive, but
really handy)

> when I install Adobe
> Acrobat? Are all its dependancies going to be installed as well? 

yes, that's the beauty of using portinstall or portupgrade instead of
pkg_add (I think pkg_add resolves dependencies, but not as
cleverly/well as portinstall / portupgrade)

> I
> mean, ports doesn't "know" which packages were installed by pkg_add,
> which is how I suppose those packages are installed. Sorry if I cannot
> make myself clear enough, but there's still the fog that blinds
> newbies like me. :)
> 
> Is it possible to generate packages for all the dependancies? Does
> "make package" do this for all packages for which a package can be
> created? I hope I won't need to reinstall them but you know... you
> never know. :)

portinstall -pP [section/port]

will do this for you for 'port' and all its build and run dependencies.

hasta luego,
Beto