1 # $NetBSD: Packages.txt,v 1.88 2000/06/02 01:52:10 hubertf Exp $
2 ###########################################################################
4 ==========================
7 ==========================
9 Hubert Feyrer, Alistair Crooks
15 grep -B1 '^.====' Packages.txt | egrep -v '^.[-=]'
21 There is a lot of software freely available for Unix based systems, which
22 usually runs on NetBSD, too, sometimes with some modifications. The NetBSD
23 packages collection incorporates any such changes necessary to make that
24 software run on NetBSD, and makes the installation (and reinstallation) of
25 the software package easy by means of a single command.
27 The NetBSD package system is used to enable such freely available
28 third-party software to be built easily on NetBSD hosts. Once the software
29 has been built, it is manipulated with the pkg_* tools so that installation
30 and de-installation, printing of an inventory of all installed packages and
31 retrieval of one-line comments or more verbose descriptions are all simple.
33 Both the NetBSD packages collection and the NetBSD package system are
40 This document is divided into two parts. The first, "User's Guide",
41 describes how one can use one of the packages in the Package
42 Collection, either by installing a precompiled binary package, or by
43 building your own copy using the NetBSD package system. The second
44 part, "Package Constructor's Guide", explains how to prepare a package so
45 it can be easily built by other NetBSD users without knowing about the
46 package's building details.
52 There has been a lot of talk about "ports", "packages", etc. so far. Here
53 is a description of all the terminology used within this document:
56 A set of files and building instructions that describe what's necessary
57 to build a certain piece of software using the NetBSD package
58 system. Packages are traditionally stored under /usr/pkgsrc.
60 * The NetBSD package system:
61 This is the part of the NetBSD operating system handling building
62 (compiling), installing, and removing of packages.
65 This term describes the file or files that are provided by the author
66 of the piece of freely available software to distribute his work. All
67 the changes necessary to build on NetBSD are reflected in the
68 corresponding package. Usually the distfile is in the form of a
69 compressed tar-archive, but other types are possible, too. Distfiles
70 are stored below /usr/pkgsrc/distfiles.
73 This is the term used by FreeBSD people for what we call a package.
74 In NetBSD terminology, "port" refers to a different architecture.
76 * Precompiled (binary) package:
77 A set of binaries built by the NetBSD package system from a distfile
78 using the NetBSD package system and stuffed together in a single .tgz
79 file so it can be installed on machines of the same machine architecture
80 without the need to recompile. Packages are generated in
81 /usr/pkgsrc/packages by the NetBSD package system; there is also an
82 archive on ftp.netbsd.org.
84 Sometimes, this is referred to by the term "package" too,
85 especially in the context of precompiled packages.
88 The piece of software to be installed which will be constructed from
89 all the files in the Distfile by the actions defined in the
90 corresponding package.
93 Some files in a package contain RCS IDs to reflect which version of
94 that file this is (inserted automatically by cvs). These IDs are used
95 in several examples within this document, but as this document itself
96 is managed by CVS, it can't list the RCS IDs in plaintext. Instead, the
97 $s are written as <$>, resulting in <$>NetBSD<$> and <$>Id<$>.
104 1 Installing a precompiled binary package
105 =========================================
107 This section describes how to find, retrieve and install a precompiled
108 binary package that someone else already prepared for your type of machine.
114 Precompiled packages are stored on ftp.netbsd.org and its mirrors in the
115 directory /pub/NetBSD/packages for anon FTP access. Please pick the right
116 subdirectory there as indicated by "sysctl hw.machine_arch". In that
117 directory, there is a subdirectory for each category plus a subdirectory
118 "All" which includes the actual binaries in .tgz-files. The category
119 subdirectories use symbolic links to those files. (This is the same
120 directory layout as in /usr/pkgsrc/packages).
122 This same directory layout applies for CDROM distributions, only that the
123 directory may be rooted somewhere else, probably somewhere below /cdrom.
124 Please consult your CDROM's documentation for the exact location!
130 If you have the files on a CDROM or downloaded them to your hard disk, you
131 can install them with the following command (be sure to su to root first):
133 pkg_add /path/to/package.tgz
135 If you have FTP access and you don't want to download the packages via FTP
136 prior to installation, you can do this automatically by giving pkg_add an
139 pkg_add ftp://ftp.netbsd.org/pub/NetBSD/packages/<OS Ver>/<arch>/All/package.tgz
141 If there is any doubt, the sysctl utility can be used to determine the
142 <OS Ver>, and <arch> by running "sysctl kern.osrelease hw.machine_arch".
144 Also note that any prerequisite packages needed to run the package in
145 question will be installed, too, assuming they are present where you install
148 After you've installed packages, be sure to have /usr/pkg in your $PATH so
149 you can actually start the just installed program.
152 1.3 A word of warning
153 =====================
155 Please pay very careful attention to the warnings expressed in that manual
156 page about the inherent dangers of installing binary packages which you did
157 not create yourself, and the security holes that can be introduced onto
158 your system by indiscriminate adding of such files.
161 2 Installing by Building
162 ========================
164 This assumes that the package is already part of the NetBSD package system.
165 If it is not, then you are advised to read part II of this document,
166 "Package Constructor's Guide".
169 2.1 Where to get pkgsrc
170 =======================
172 To get the package source going, you need to get the pkgsrc.tar.gz file
173 from ftp://ftp.netbsd.org/pub/NetBSD-current/tar_files/pkgsrc.tar.gz and
174 unpack it into /usr/pkgsrc.
176 As an alternative, you can get pkgsrc via the Software Update Protocol,
177 SUP. To do so, make sure your supfile has a line saying "release=pkgsrc" in
178 it, see the examples in /usr/share/examples/supfiles, and that the
179 directory /usr/pkgsrc does exist. Then, simply start "sup -v
180 /path/to/your/supfile".
183 2.2 Fetching distfiles
184 ======================
186 There is one gotcha: The distribution file (i.e. the unmodified source)
187 must exist on your system for the packages system to be able to build it.
188 If it does not, then ftp(1) is used to fetch the distribution files
191 You can overwrite some of the major distribution sites to fit to sites
192 that are close to your own. Have a look at /usr/pkgsrc/mk/mk.conf.example
193 to find some examples. This may save some of your bandwidth and time.
195 When you have selected your settings, install your configuration into
198 If you don't have a permanent Internet connection and you want to know
199 which files to download, "make fetch-list" will tell you what you'll need.
200 Put these distfiles into /usr/pkgsrc/distfiles.
203 2.3 How to build and install
204 ============================
206 Assuming that has been done, become root and change into the relevant
207 directory. Then you can type
211 at the shell prompt to build the various components of the package, and
215 at the shell prompt to install the various components into the correct
216 places on your system.
218 Taking the top system utility as an example, we can install it on our
219 system by building as shown in appendix A.1.
221 The program is installed under the default root of the packages tree -
222 /usr/pkg. Should this not conform to your tastes, simply set the LOCALBASE
223 variable in your environment, and it will use that value as the root of
224 your packages tree. So, to use /usr/local, set
228 in your environment. There is, of course, one exception to this - X11
229 packages are traditionally installed in the X11 tree. The environment
230 variable which governs an X11 package's location is X11BASE. So to
231 install an X11 package into /usr/local/X11R6, set
233 X11BASE=/usr/local/X11R6
237 However, beware that strange things may happen if you install X11
238 packages outside the X11 tree, in that libraries and header files may
239 not be found by other software, and Application Defaults may not be
240 found. For that reason, you are advised to leave X11 packages in the
241 X11 tree. We are looking at ways to change this.
243 Some packages look in /etc/mk.conf to alter some configuration options
244 at build time. Have a look at /usr/pkgsrc/mk/mk.conf.example to get an
245 overview of what you can set there. Environment variables such as
246 LOCALBASE, and X11BASE can also be set in /etc/mk.conf to save having
247 to remember to set them each time you want to use pkgsrc.
250 3 Making a precompiled package
251 ==============================
253 Once you have built and installed the package as mentioned above, you can
254 build it into a "binary package" - you might want to do this so that you
255 can use the binaries you have just built on another NetBSD system, or to
256 provide a simple means for others to use your binary package instead of
257 wasting CPU time - this is done by changing to the appropriate directory in
258 the pkgsrc tree, and typing the command
262 at the shell prompt. This will build and install your package (if not
263 already done), and then construct a binary package out of the results so
264 that you can use the pkg_* tools to manipulate this. The binary package is
265 stored under /usr/pkgsrc/packages, it's in the form of a gzipped file at
266 the present time. See appendix A.2 for a continuation of the above top
269 Please see the "submitting" section later in this document on how to submit
270 such a binary package.
273 ====================================
274 Part II: Package Constructor's Guide
275 ====================================
277 4 Package components - files, directories and contents
278 ======================================================
280 Whenever you're preparing a package from the FreeBSD ports collection or
281 doing it from scratch, there are a number of files involved which are
282 described in the following sections. Special directions are given for what
283 differs from FreeBSD ports for each file.
289 Building, installation and creation of a binary package are all controlled
290 by the package's Makefile.
292 There is a Makefile for each package. This file includes the standard
293 bsd.pkg.mk file (referenced as "../../mk/bsd.pkg.mk"), which sets all the
294 definitions and actions necessary for the package to compile and install
295 itself. The mandatory fields are the DISTNAME which specifies the base name
296 of the distribution file to be downloaded from the site on the Internet,
297 MASTER_SITES which specifies that site, CATEGORIES which denotes the
298 categories into which the package falls, PKGNAME which is the name of the
299 package and the MAINTAINER name. This is so that anyone who quibbles with
300 the (always completely correct) decisions taken by the guy who maintains
301 the port can complain vigorously.
303 The MASTER_SITES may be set to one of the predefined sites:
305 ${MASTER_SITE_XCONTRIB}
307 ${MASTER_SITE_PERL_CPAN}
308 ${MASTER_SITE_TEX_CTAN}
309 ${MASTER_SITE_SUNSITE}
311 If one of these predefined sites is chosen, you may require the ability to
312 specify a subdirectory of that site. Since these macros may expand to
313 more than one actual site, you MUST use the following construct to specify
316 ${MASTER_SITE_GNU:=subdirectory/name/}
318 (Note the trailing slash after the subdirectory name.) Use of the deprecated
319 MASTER_SITE_SUBDIR will not work.
321 Currently the following values are available for CATEGORIES. If more than
322 one is used, they need to be separated by spaces:
324 archivers corba graphics meta-pkgs print
325 audio cross ham misc security
326 benchmarks databases japanese net shells
327 biology devel lang news sysutils
328 cad editors mail parallel textproc
329 comms emulators math pkgtools www
330 converters games mbone plan9 x11
332 See the NetBSD packages(7) manual page for a description of all available
333 options and variables.
335 Please pay attention to the following gotchas, especially when preparing a
336 package from the FreeBSD ports collection:
338 - Remove all MANx and CATx definitions from the package Makefile -
339 NetBSD has implemented automatic manual page handling, and these
340 definitions are now obsolete.
341 - Add MANCOMPRESSED (if not already there) if manpages are installed in
342 compressed form by the package; see comment in bsd.pkg.mk
343 - Replace /usr/local by ${PREFIX} in all files (see patches below)
344 - Delete any ldconfig commands - this will be done automatically for you
345 if the NetBSD platform supports ldconfig, and other measures will be
346 taken on platforms which do not support ldconfig (e.g. NetBSD/Alpha)
347 - If modifying a package from the FreeBSD ports collection, preserve
348 their RCS ID: remove the '$'s around the FreeBSD RCS Id, and insert the
349 word FreeBSD, then add a <$>NetBSD<$> (Without the <>s, please remember
350 the Terminology section), i.e.:
353 # <$>Id: Makefile,v 1.17 1997/06/16 06:39:51 max Exp <$>
357 # FreeBSD Id: Makefile,v 1.17 1997/06/16 06:39:51 max Exp
358 - If the package installs any info files, the main info directory file
359 needs to be updated to reflect this fact. NetBSD now has an INFO_FILES
360 definition, which is used to do this. For example, to install the
361 indent.info entry into the info directory file, simply use the
363 INFO_FILES= indent.info
365 definition in the package Makefile. If the package does this insertion
366 for you, you should specify USE_GTEXINFO in the package Makefile, to
367 ensure that the pre-requisite GNU texinfo package is installed on your
369 - Adjust MAINTAINER to be either yourself, if you plan to maintain the
370 package for future updates, or set it to the default MAINTAINER
371 packages@netbsd.org, as it is unlikely that the FreeBSD people will
372 care about NetBSD packages.
373 - If there exists a home page for the software in question, please
374 add the variable HOMEPAGE right after MAINTAINER. The value of this
375 variable should be the URL for the home page.
381 Most important, the mandatory md5 checksum of all the distfiles needed for
382 the package to compile, confirming they match the original file any patches
383 were generated against. This ensures that the distfile retrieved from the
384 Internet has not been corrupted during transfer or altered by a malign force
385 to introduce a security hole. It can be generated by hand using the md5(1)
386 command or by invoking "make makesum".
389 The checksum file for all the official patches for the package, found in the
390 patches/ directory (see section 4.3). This checksum file includes an MD5
391 checksum of all lines in the patch file except the NetBSD RCS Id. This file
392 is generated by invoking "make makepatchsum".
394 Besides that, if you have any files that you wish to be placed in the
395 package prior to configuration or building, you could place these files
396 here and use a ${CP} command in the pre-configure target to achieve this.
397 Alternatively, you could simply diff the file against /dev/null and use the
398 patch mechanism to manage the creation of this file.
404 This directory contains files that are used by the patch(1) command to
405 modify the sources as distributed in the distribution file into a form that
406 will compile and run perfectly on NetBSD. The files are applied
407 successively in alphabetic order (as returned by a shell "patches/patch-*"
408 glob expansion), so patch-aa is applied before patch-ab etc.
410 The patch-?? files should be in diff -bu format, and apply without a fuzz
411 to avoid problems. Furthermore, do not put changes for more than one file
412 into a single patch-file, as this will make future modifications more
415 One important thing to mention is to pay attention that no RCS IDs get
416 stored in the patch files, as these will cause problems when later checked
417 into the NetBSD CVS tree. To avoid this, use the "-U 2" or -U 1" option to
420 When preparing a FreeBSD port for the NetBSD packages system, it's likely
421 that the FreeBSD port will work on NetBSD. However, check that the person
422 who ported the software to FreeBSD has not played fast and loose with the
423 __FreeBSD__ cpp definition without good cause - a simple way to do this is
426 grep -i freebsd patches/patch-??
428 in the package directory.
430 Besides taking care of any FreeBSDisms, be sure to provide patches to
431 replace any occurrence of /usr/local in any "Makefile"s in the original
432 package with ${PREFIX}.
434 When you have finished a package, remember to generate the checksums
435 for the patch files by using the "make makepatchsum" command, see
442 This directory contains several files used to manage the creation of binary
443 packages. Files from this directory are used in the binary package itself,
444 and will thus be installed on other machines, so you should be aware that
445 there is a wider audience than you might think for your comments and
448 4.4.1 Mandatory files
449 =====================
452 A one-line description of the piece of software. There is no need to
453 mention the package's name - this will automatically be added by the
454 pkg_* tools when they are invoked.
457 A multi-line description of the piece of software. This should include
458 any credits where they are due. Please bear in mind that others do not
459 share your sense of humour (or spelling idiosyncrasies), and that others
460 will read everything that you write here.
463 This file governs the files that are installed on your system: all the
464 binaries, manual pages, etc. There are other directives which may be
465 entered in this file, to control the creation and deletion of
466 directories, and the location of inserted files.
468 If you're updating a FreeBSD package to work for NetBSD, please pay special
469 attention to the following things in pkg/PLIST:
471 - If there are any "@exec ldconfig ..." statements, or any "@unexec
472 ldconfig ...", delete them. NetBSD works out automatically whether to
473 call ldconfig, since some NetBSD architectures do not have ldconfig.
474 - Add any missing @dirrm statements
475 - Remove any MANx= definitions in the package Makefile
477 You could also investigate the port2pkg package (pkgsrc/pkgtools/port2pkg),
478 which does a lot of the donkey work for you.
485 Shell script invoked twice during pkg_add. First time after package
486 extraction and before files are moved in place, the second time after
487 the files to install are moved in place. This can be used to do any
488 custom procedures not possible with @exec commands in PLIST. See
489 pkg_add(1) and pkg_create(1) for more information.
492 This script is executed before and after any files are removed. It is
493 this script's responsibility to clean up any additional messy details
494 around the package's installation, since all pkg_delete knows is how to
495 delete the files created in the original distribution. See pkg_delete(1)
496 and pkg_create(1) for more information.
499 Require-script that is invoked before installation and de-installation
500 to ensure things like certain accounts being available, user/sysadmin
501 agreeing with usage policy, etc.
504 Display this file after installation of the package.
505 Useful for things like legal notices on almost-free software,
512 This directory contains any files that are necessary for configuration of
513 your software, etc. If a script with any of the following names is present,
514 it will be executed at the appropriate time during the build process:
517 pre-extract post-extract
519 pre-configure post-configure configure
521 pre-install post-install
522 pre-package post-package
524 Note that you should NOT define a pre-* or post-* target in the Makefile
525 which executes the matching scripts/[pre|post]-* script. bsd.pkg.mk runs
526 any existing Makefile target first, then searches for scripts/* and runs
527 it using sh(1). Running the script from the Makefile would cause it to
530 See section 7 for a description of the build process.
536 When you type "make" the distribution files are unpacked into this
537 directory. It can be removed by typing
541 at the shell prompt. Also, this directory is used to keep various
545 4.7 importing the package into CVS
546 ==================================
548 Newly created packages should be imported with a vendor tag of "TNF" and
549 a release tag of "pkgsrc-base", e.g::
551 cvs import pkgsrc/<category>/frobnitz TNF pkgsrc-base
553 Packages derived from a FreeBSD port should be imported with a vendor tag
554 of "FREEBSD" and a release tag of "FreeBSD-current-YYYY-MM-DD" (YYYY-MM-DD
555 being the date when the snapshot of the port were taken form the FreeBSD
556 tree), and then doing the necessary modifications by normal CVS operations.
559 cvs import pkgsrc/<category>/mumbler FREEBSD FreeBSD-current-1998-04-01
560 cvs rm patches/patch-a
561 cvs add patches/patch-aa
564 Please note all package updates/additions in doc/pkg-CHANGES! Its very important
565 to keep this file up to date, because it will be used by scripts to
566 automatically update some pages on www.netbsd.org.
572 This section addresses some special issues that one needs to pay attention
573 to when dealing with the PLIST file (or files, see below!).
580 Be sure to add a RCS ID line as the first thing in any PLIST file you
583 @comment <$>NetBSD<$>
586 Don't put any ranlib commands into your PLIST files, as they will cause
587 troubles when the package is removed. Just make sure the build-process
588 does run ranlib - it usually does - and you can leave this out. This is
589 usually only a problem when using ports from FreeBSD.
592 Don't put any ldconfig commands into your PLIST files, as they will
593 cause problems. All shared object caching is done automatically in
594 NetBSD (this takes place when you see the "Automatic shared object
595 handling" message), and so you can leave this out. If any shared
596 objects are found in the package, they will be dealt with
597 automatically, running ldconfig on platforms which need it, and not
598 otherwise. This is usually only a problem when using ports from
601 * ${MACHINE_ARCH}, ${MACHINE_GNU_ARCH}:
602 Some packages like emacs and perl embed information about which
603 architecture they were built on into the pathnames where they install
604 their file. To handle this case, PLIST will be preprocessed before
605 actually used, and the symbol "${MACHINE_ARCH}" will be replaced by
606 what "sysctl -n hw.machine_arch" gives. The same is done if the string
607 ${MACHINE_GNU_ARCH} is embedded in PLIST somewhere - use this on
608 packages that use GNU autoconfigure.
610 Legacy note: There used to be a symbol "<$ARCH>" that was replaced by
611 the output of "uname -m", but that's no longer supported and has been
614 * ${OPSYS}, ${OS_VERSION}:
615 Some packages want to embed the OS name and version into some paths.
616 to do this, use these two variables in PLIST. ${OPSYS} will be replaced
617 by output from "uname -s", ${OS_VERSION} will be set to what "uname -r"
620 * Manpage-compression:
621 Manpages should be installed in compressed form if MANZ is set (in
622 bsd.own.mk), and uncompressed otherwise. To handle this in the PLIST
623 file, the suffix ".gz" is appended/removed automatically for manpages
624 according to MANZ and MANCOMPRESSED being set or not, see above for
625 details. This modification of the PLIST file is done on a copy of it,
626 not pkg/PLIST itself.
629 5.2 MD/MI vs. general PLIST
630 ===========================
632 Sometimes the packaging list in pkg/PLIST differs between platforms, e.g.
633 if one of them supports shared libs and the other does not. To address
634 this, a hook has been introduced into the NetBSD packages system to provide
635 a PLIST file defined on conditions set freely in the package's Makefile.
641 To use one or more files as source for the PLIST used in generating the
642 binary package, set the variable PLIST_SRC to the names of that file(s).
643 The files are later concatenated using cat(1), and order of things is an
644 important issue, see below.
647 5.2.2 PLIST-mi, PLIST-md.shared, PLIST-md.static
648 ================================================
650 If PLIST_SRC is not set (the usual case), and if there is no pkg/PLIST, the
651 packages system looks for pkg/PLIST-mi, and pkg/PLIST-md.shared or
652 pkg/PLIST-md.static to handle differences due to the platform being able to
653 handle shared libs or not. PLIST-mi contains machine independent files,
654 PLIST-md.* contain machine dependent files, which may differ between
655 architectures that don't support dynamic libs/shared loading. Currently,
656 this is only used in the perl-packages, and as perl5 on alpha doesn't
657 support dynamic loading of extensions like perl/Tk yet, PLIST.mi-static is
658 also used on the alpha (besides pmax and powerpc). Alpha will hopefully be
659 removed soon when perl's fixed for dynamic loading.
661 (This handling of MI/MD PLIST files is implemented by setting PLIST_SRC to
662 either "PLIST-mi PLIST-md.static" or "PLIST-mi PLIST-md.shared", see
663 /usr/pkgsrc/mk/bsd.pkg.mk).
666 5.2.3 Order in the PLIST* file(s)
667 =================================
669 There is one gotcha regarding the ordering of @dirrm statements: any MI
670 @dirrm directives that follow any MD @dirrm's *must* go into the PLIST.md-*
671 files, as the files PLIST-mi and PLIST.md-{shared/static} are concatenated
672 in exactly this order. If the MI directory would be listed in PLIST-mi, it
673 would be removed before the MD directory, which wouldn't work.
675 E.g. if you have the following dirs:
679 then PLIST-mi contains:
682 and PLIST-md.* contain:
686 This will lead to some @dirrm statements being duplicated, but it's the
687 only way to ensure everything is properly removed. The same care must be
688 taken when PLIST_SRC is set to some package-specific settings.
691 6 Notes on fixes for packages
692 =============================
697 To port an application to NetBSD, it's usually necessary for the compiler
698 to be able to judge the system on which it's compiling, and we use
699 definitions so that the C pre-processor can do this.
701 The really impatient should just note that a number of the FreeBSD ports
702 (which are called packages in the NetBSD world) rely on the CPP definition
703 __FreeBSD__. This should be used sparingly, for FreeBSD-specific features,
704 but unfortunately this is not always the case. A number also rely on the
705 fact that the CPU type is an Intel-based little-endian CPU.
707 To test whether you are working on a 4.4 BSD-derived system, you should use
708 the BSD definition, which is defined in <sys/param.h> on said systems.
710 #include <sys/param.h>
712 and then you can surround the BSD-specific parts of your port using the
715 #if (defined(BSD) && BSD >= 199306)
719 Please use the __NetBSD__ definition sparingly - it should only apply to
720 features of NetBSD that are not present in other 4.4-lite derived BSDs.
722 You should also avoid defining __FreeBSD__=1 and then simply using the
723 FreeBSD port, if only from an aesthetic viewpoint.
726 6.2 Shared libraries - libtool
727 ==============================
729 NetBSD supports many different machines, with different object formats
730 like a.out and ELF, and varying abilities to do shared library and
731 dynamic loading at all. To accompany this, varying commands and options
732 have to be passed to the compiler, linker etc. to get the Right Thing,
733 which can be pretty annoying especially if you don't have all the
734 machines at your hand to test things. The "libtool" pkg can help
735 here, as it just "knows" how to build both static and dynamic
736 libraries from a set our source files, thus being platform
739 Here's how to use libtool in a pkg in six simple steps:
741 1. Add USE_LIBTOOL= yes to the package Makefile.
743 2. For library objects, use "${LIBTOOL} --mode=compile ${CC}" in place of
744 ${CC}. You could even add it to the definition of CC, if only
745 libraries are being built in a given Makefile. This one command will
746 build both PIC and non-PIC library objects, so you need not have
747 separate shared and non-shared library rules.
749 3. For the linking of the library, remove any "ar", "ranlib", and "ld
750 -Bshareable" commands, and use instead:
752 ${LIBTOOL} --mode=link cc -o ${.TARGET:.a=.la} ${OBJS:.o=.lo} -rpath ${PREFIX}/lib -version-info major:minor
754 Note that the library is changed to have a .la extension, and the
755 objects are changed to have a .lo extension. Change OBJS as necessary.
756 This automatically creates all of the .a, .so.major.minor, and ELF
757 symlinks (if necessary) in the build directory.
759 4. When linking programs that depend on these libraries _before_ they are
760 installed, preface the cc or ld line with "${LIBTOOL} --mode=link", and
761 it will find the correct libraries (static or shared), but please be
762 aware that libtool will not allow you to specify a relative path in -L
763 (such as -L../somelib), because it is trying to force you to change
764 that argument to be the .la file. For example:
766 ${LIBTOOL} --mode=link ${CC} -o someprog -L../somelib -lsomelib
768 won't work; it needs to be changed to:
770 ${LIBTOOL} --mode=link ${CC} -o someprog ../somelib/somelib.la
772 and it will DTRT with the libraries. If you *must* use a relative path
773 with -L, and you are not going to run this program before installing
774 it, you can omit the use of libtool during link and install of this
775 program if you add the subdirectory ".libs" in your -L command:
777 ${CC} -o someprog -L../somelib/.libs -lsomelib
779 5. When installing libraries, preface the install or cp command with
780 "${LIBTOOL} --mode=install", and change the library name to .la. For
783 ${LIBTOOL} --mode=install ${BSD_INSTALL_DATA} ${SOMELIB:.a=.la} ${PREFIX}/lib
785 This will install the static .a, shared library, any needed symlinks,
788 6. In your PLIST, include the .a, .la, and .so.major.minor files. Don't
789 include the ELF symlink files; those are automatic.
791 Do not use pkglibtool! Previously, the package system used its
792 own version of libtool from pkgtools. However, over time, this
793 version became outdated and is now deprecated. You may see some
794 definitions of USE_PKGLIBTOOL in existing packages that still use
795 this outdated version of libtool. Please do not use this definition
798 6.3 Using libtool on GNU packages that already support libtool
799 ==============================================================
801 Add USE_LIBTOOL=yes and LTCONFIG_OVERRIDE=${WRKSRC}/ltconfig to the
802 package Makefile as the quick way to bypass the pkg's own libtool.
803 The pkg's own libtool is made by ltconfig script at do-configure target.
804 If USE_LIBTOOL and LTCONFIG_OVERRIDE are defined, the specified ltconfig is
805 overridden, using the devel/libtool instead of the pkg's own libtool.
806 If the pkg already has an original "libtool" which we can replace with
807 devel/libtool you may have to specify LIBTOOL_OVERRIDE to the package
810 6.4 Gotchas of FreeBSD ports
811 ============================
813 See section 4.1 for Makefile issues (MANx, CATx, MANCOMPRESSED, ldconfig,
814 RCS IDs) and section 4.3 for gotchas on using patches from FreeBSD ports.
816 One of the biggest problems with FreeBSD ports is that too many of
817 them assume they will install into /usr/local, instead of honouring
818 any ${PREFIX} setting properly. To change this, add something like the
819 following into your package Makefile:
822 for f in `find ${WRKDIR} -type f -print|xargs grep -l '/usr/local'`; do
824 ${SED} -e 's:/usr/local:'${PREFIX}':g' < $$f > $$f.pdone && ${MV} $
828 This is taken from the sysutils/rtty package; be sure this works for your
829 package - it may actually make sense to look for some things in /usr/local,
830 for example. So don't blindly replace all occurrences of /usr/local!
832 FreeBSD has decided to list manual pages in the package Makefile, with
833 no corresponding entry in the PLIST. You will thus need to add any
834 MAN[1-8ln] files to the PLIST, before deleting the MAN[1-8ln]
835 definition. Similarly with MLINKS and CAT[1-8ln] entries.
837 Side note on manpages in PLIST: we don't take any notice of any .gz
838 suffix there, as many FreeBSD ports seem to have .gz pages in PLIST
839 even when they install manpages without compressing them; rather, we
840 add our own .gz suffix there according to MANZ. In short, it does not
841 matter whether the manual page name in the PLIST has a .gz suffix or
842 not - if it needs one which is not already there, it will be appended
843 automatically, and if there is a .gz suffix which is not needed, it
844 will be deleted automatically.
846 Some packages use bsd-style .mk files when building, and so any manual
847 pages that are installed will be gzip-compressed, if MANZ is set, or
848 not if MANZ is not set. If the package uses bsd-style .mk files, the
849 variable MANCOMPRESSED_IF_MANZ should be set to a value of "yes" in
850 the package Makefile.
853 6.5 Feedback to the author
854 ==========================
856 If you have found any bugs in the package you make available, if you had to
857 do special steps to make it run under NetBSD or if you enhanced the software
858 in various other ways, be sure to report these changes back to the original
859 author of the program! With that kind of support, the next release of the
860 program can incorporate these fixes, and people not using the NetBSD packages
861 system can win from your efforts.
863 Support the idea of free software!
869 The basic steps for building a program are always the same. First the
870 program's source (distfile) must be brought to the local system and
871 then extracted. After any patches to compile properly on NetBSD are
872 applied, the software can be configured, then built (usually by
873 compiling), and finally the generated binaries etc. can be put into
874 place on the system. These are exactly the steps performed by the
875 NetBSD package system, which is implemented as a series of targets in
876 a central Makefile, /usr/pkgsrc/mk/bsd.pkg.mk.
882 Before outlining the process performed by the NetBSD package system in the
883 next section, here's a brief discussion on where programs are installed,
884 and which variables influence this.
886 The automatic variable PREFIX indicates where all files of the final
887 program shall be installed. It is usually set to $LOCALBASE (/usr/pkg),
888 or $CROSSBASE for pkgs in the "cross" category, though its value becomes
889 that of $X11BASE if USE_IMAKE, USE_MOTIF, or USE_X11BASE is set. The value
890 ${PREFIX} needs to be put into the various places in the program's source
891 where paths to these files are encoded; see sections 4.3 and 6.2 for
894 When choosing which of these variables to use, follow the following rules:
896 * ${PREFIX} always points to the location where the current pkg will be
897 installed. When referring to a pkg's own installation path, use ${PREFIX}.
899 * ${LOCALBASE} is where all non-X11 pkgs are installed. If you need to
900 construct a -I or -L argument to the compiler to find includes and
901 libraries installed by another non-X11 pkg, use ${LOCALBASE}.
903 * ${X11BASE} is where the actual X11 distribution is installed. When looking
904 for _standard_ X11 includes (not those installed by a pkg), use ${X11BASE}.
906 * X11 based pkgs are special in that they may be installed in either
907 X11BASE or LOCALBASE depending on a configuration option in /etc/mk.conf.
908 If you need to find includes or libraries installed by a pkg that has
909 USE_IMAKE, USE_MOTIF, or USE_X11BASE in its pkg Makefile, you need to use
910 _both_ ${X11BASE} and ${LOCALBASE}.
916 The main targets used during the build process defined in bsd.pkg.mk are:
919 This will check if the file(s) given in the variables DISTFILES and
920 PATCHFILES (as defined in the package's Makefile) are present on the
921 local system in /usr/pkgsrc/distfiles. If they are not present, they
922 will be fetched using ftp(1) from the site(s) given in the variable
923 PATCH_SITES. The location(s) in PATCH_SITES are in the form of URLs
924 and can be ftp://- and http://-URLs, as ftp(1) understands both of
928 After the distfile(s) are fetched, their MD5 checksum is generated and
929 compared with the checksums stored in the files/md5 file. If the
930 checksums don't match, the build is aborted. This is to ensure the same
931 distfile is used for building, and that the distfile wasn't changed,
932 e.g. by some malign force, deliberately changed distfiles on the master
933 distribution site or network lossage.
936 When the distfiles are present on the local system, they need to be
937 extracted, as they are usually in the form of some compressed archive
938 format, most commonly .tar.gz. If only some of the distfiles need to be
939 uncompressed, the files to be uncompressed should be put into
940 EXTRACT_ONLY. If the distfiles are not in .tar.gz format, they can be
941 extracted by setting EXTRACT_CMD, EXTRACT_BEFORE_ARGS and/or
945 After extraction, all the patches named by the PATCHFILES and those
946 present in the patches subdirectory of the package are applied.
947 Patchfiles ending in .Z or .gz are uncompressed before they are
948 applied, files ending in .orig or .rej are ignored. Any special
949 options to patch(1) can be handed in PATCH_DIST_ARGS. See section
950 4.3 for more details.
953 Most pieces of software need information on the header files,
954 system calls, and library routines which are available in NetBSD.
955 This is the process known as configuration, and is usually
956 automated. In most cases, a script is supplied with the source,
957 and its invocation results in generation of header files,
960 If the program doesn't come with its own configure script, one can be
961 placed in the package's scripts directory, called "configure". If so, it
962 is executed using sh(1).
964 If the program's distfile contains its own configure script, this can
965 be invoked by setting HAS_CONFIGURE. If the configure script is a GNU
966 autoconf script, GNU_CONFIGURE should be specified instead. In either
967 case, any arguments to the configure script can be specified in the
968 CONFIGURE_ARGS variable, and the configure script's name can be set in
969 CONFIGURE_SCRIPT if it differs from the default "configure".
971 If the program uses an Imakefile for configuration, the appropriate
972 steps can be invoked by setting USE_IMAKE to YES. (If you only want the
973 package installed in $X11BASE but xmkmf not being run, set USE_X11BASE
977 Once configuration has taken place, the software can be built on
978 NetBSD by invoking $MAKE_PROGRAM on $MAKEFILE with $ALL_TARGET as
979 the target to build. The default MAKE_PROGRAM is "gmake" if
980 USE_GMAKE is set, "make" otherwise. MAKEFILE is set to "Makefile"
981 by default, and ALL_TARGET defaults to "all". Any of these
982 variables can be set to change the default build process.
985 Once the build stage has completed, the final step is to install
986 the software in public directories, for users. As in the
987 build-target, $MAKE_PROGRAM is invoked on $MAKEFILE here, but with
988 the $INSTALL_TARGET instead, the latter defaulting to "install"
989 (plus "install.man", if USE_IMAKE is set).
991 If no target is specified, the default is "build". If a subsequent stage
992 is requested, all prior stages are made: e.g. "make build" will also
993 perform the equivalent of:
1003 7.3 Other helpful targets
1004 =========================
1007 For any of the main targets described in the previous section, two
1008 auxiliary targets exist with "pre-" and "post-" used as a prefix
1009 for the main target's name. These targets are invoked before and
1010 after the main target is called, allowing extra configuration or
1011 installation steps, for example, which program's configure script
1012 or install target omitted. For any of these auxiliary targets,
1013 scripts of the same name can be placed in the package's
1014 scripts-subdirectory that will be executed at the given time, see
1018 Should one of the main targets do the wrong thing, and should there
1019 be no variable to fix this, you can redefine it with the do-*
1020 target. (Note that redefining the target itself instead of the
1021 do-* target is a bad idea, as the pre-* and post-* targets won't be
1022 called anymore, etc.) You will not usually need to do this.
1025 If you did a "make install" and you noticed some file was not installed
1026 properly, you can repeat the installation with this target, which will
1027 ignore the "already installed" flag.
1030 This target does a pkg_delete(1) in the current directory,
1031 effectively de-installing the package. The following variables can
1032 be used either on the command line or in /etc/mk.conf to tune the
1036 Add a "-v" to the pkg_delete(1) command.
1039 Remove all packages that require (depend on) the given package.
1040 This can be used to remove any packages that may have been pulled in
1041 by a given package, e.g. if "make deinstall DEINSTALLDEPENDS=1" is
1042 done in x11/kde, this is likely to remove whole KDE. Works by adding
1043 a "-R" to the pkg_delete command line.
1046 This target causes the current package to be updated to the latest
1047 version. The package and all depending packages first get deinstalled,
1048 then current versions of the corresponding packages get compiled and
1049 installed. This is similar to manually noting which packages are
1050 currently installed, then performing a series of "make deinstall" and
1051 and "make install" (or whatever DEPENDS_TARGET is set to) for these
1054 You can use the "update" target to resume package updating in case a
1055 previous "make update" was interrupted for some reason. However, in
1056 this case, make sure you don't call "make clean" or otherwise remove
1057 the list of dependent packages in ${WRKDIR}. Otherwise you lose the
1058 ability to automatically update the current package along with the
1059 dependent packages you have installed.
1061 Resuming an interrupted 'make update' will only work as long as the
1062 package tree remains unchanged. If the source code for one of the
1063 packages to be updated has been changed, resuming 'make update' will
1064 most certainly fail!
1066 The following variables can be used either on the command line or in
1067 /etc/mk.conf to alter the behaviour of "make update":
1070 Install target to use for the updated package and the
1071 dependent packages. Defaults to "install". E.g.
1072 "make update DEPENDS_TARGET=package"
1075 Don't clean up after updating. Useful if you want to leave the
1076 work sources of the updated packages around for inspection or
1077 other purposes. Be sure you eventually clean up the source
1078 tree (see the "clean-update" target below) or you may run into
1079 troubles with old source code still lying around on your next
1080 "make" or "make update".
1083 Use "reinstall" instead of ${DEPENDS_TARGET} for every package
1084 that gets updated. Be sure you know the implications of using
1085 the "reinstall" target when using this variable.
1088 Clean the source tree for all packages that would get updated if
1089 "make update" was called from the current directory. This target
1090 should not be used if the current package (or any of its depending
1091 packages) have already been deinstalled (e.g., after calling "make
1092 update") or you may lose some packages you intended to update.
1093 As a rule of thumb: only use this target _before_ the first time
1094 you call "make update" and only if you have a dirty package tree
1095 (e.g., if you used NOCLEAN). The following variables can be used
1096 either on the command line or in /etc/mk.conf to alter the behaviour
1097 of "make clean-update":
1100 After "make clean", do not reconstruct the list of directories to
1101 update for this package. Only use this if "make update" successfully
1102 installed all packages you wanted to update. Normally, this is done
1103 automatically on "make update", but may have been suppressed by the
1104 NOCLEAN variable (see above).
1107 This target generates a README.html file, which can be viewed using a
1108 browser such as netscape (pkgsrc/www/mozilla) or lynx (pkgsrc/www/lynx).
1109 The generated files contain references to any packages which are in the
1110 ${PACKAGES} directory on the local host. The generated files can
1111 be made to refer to URLs based on FTP_PKG_URL_HOST and
1112 FTP_PKG_URL_DIR. (For example, if I wanted to generate README.html
1113 files which pointed to binary packages on the local machine, in the
1114 directory /usr/packages, set FTP_PKG_URL_HOST=file://localhost and
1115 FTP_PKG_URL_DIR=/usr/packages. The ${PACKAGES} directory and its
1116 subdirectories will be searched for all the binary packages.)
1119 Use this target to create a file README-all.html which contains a
1120 list of all packages currently available in the NetBSD Packages
1121 Collection, together with the category they belong to and a short
1122 description. This file is compiled from the pkgsrc/*/README.html
1123 files, so be sure to run this _after_ a "make readme".
1126 This is very much the same as the readme: target (see above), but is
1127 to be used when generating a pkgsrc tree to be written to a CD-ROM.
1128 This target also produces README.html files, and can be made to refer
1129 to URLs based on CDROM_PKG_URL_HOST and CDROM_PKG_URL_DIR.
1132 This target shows which distfiles and patchfiles are needed to build
1133 the package. (DISTFILES and PATCHFILES, but not patches/*)
1136 This target shows nothing if the package is not installed. If a version
1137 of this package is installed, but is not the version provided in this
1138 version of pkgsrc, then a warning message is displayed. This target can
1139 be used to show which of your installed packages are downlevel, and so
1140 the old versions can be deleted, and the current ones added.
1143 This target shows the directory in the pkgsrc hierarchy from which the
1144 package can be built and installed. This may not be the same directory
1145 as the one from which the package was installed. This target is intended
1146 to be used by people who may wish to upgrade many packages on a single
1147 host, and can be invoked from the top-level pkgsrc Makefile by using the
1148 target "show-host-specific-pkgs"
1154 To check out all the gotchas when building a package (wither from
1155 a FreeBSD port, or from scratch), here are the steps that I do in
1156 order to get a package working. Please note this is basically the
1157 same as what was explained in the previous sections, only with some
1160 - Retrieve port from FreeBSD collection
1161 - Fix RCS-ID in the package's Makefile, see section 4.1.
1162 - Import unchanged FreeBSD source (ONLY if you have cvs access, not needed
1164 (cd .../pkgsrc/category/pkgname ; cvs import pkgsrc/category/pkgname \
1165 FREEBSD FreeBSD-current-yyyy-mm-dd)
1166 - If you did a CVS import, check it out to apply the following fixes
1167 (not needed if you don't have CVS access!)
1168 - Look at Makefile, fix if necessary; see section 4.1.
1169 - Look at patches, remember if not appropriate
1170 - Have a look at pkg/PLIST, add a "@comment <$>NetBSD<$>" line at the
1171 beginning of any PLIST file (see section 5).
1173 - If something is not ok, fix; for patches: fix the file, then re-generate
1174 the diff: 'diff -bu foo.orig foo >../../patches/patch-xx' (mv patch-xx
1175 patch-xx.orig before); If there's no foo.orig from a previous patch, be
1176 sure to have an old version of the file somewhere; re-iterate :)
1177 - If all builds OK: touch /tmp/bla
1179 - find /usr/pkg/ /usr/X11R6/ -newer /tmp/bla >/tmp/x
1180 (or whatever you set LOCALBASE and X11BASE to)
1182 - find /usr/pkg/ /usr/X11R6/ -newer /tmp/bla: if this brings up any files,
1183 they are missing in pkg/PLIST*; add them.
1184 - Compare pkg/PLIST* against /tmp/x, fix the former one
1185 ( sort /tmp/x >/tmp/x2 ; sort pkg/PLIST >/tmp/P ; sdiff /tmp/x2 /tmp/P )
1186 - make reinstall && make package
1188 - "find /usr/pkg/ /usr/X11R6/ -type f -newer /tmp/bla" shouldn't find anything
1190 - pkg_add .../blub.tgz
1192 - pkg_delete - still no file should be left (re-run above find)
1193 - make clean && touch /tmp/bla && make install && make clean && make deinstall
1194 then run the find again. Yes, some software authors write Makefiles that
1195 install files during the build target. Sigh. Re-run the find, and fix the
1196 PLIST. Repeat until certain the software does not install any files that
1198 - submit (or commit, if you have cvs access); see section 10.
1201 9 FAQs & features of the package system
1202 =======================================
1204 9.1 Packages using GNU autoconfig
1205 9.2 Other distrib methods than .tar.gz
1206 9.3 Packages not creating their own subdirectory
1207 9.4 Custom configuration process
1208 9.5 Packages not building in their DISTNAME directory
1209 9.6 How to fetch all distfiles at once
1210 9.7 How to fetch files from behind a firewall
1211 9.8 If your patch contains an RCS ID
1212 9.9 How to pull in variables from /etc/mk.conf
1213 9.10 Is there a mailing list for pkg-related discussion?
1214 9.11 How do i tell "make fetch" to do passive FTP?
1215 9.12 Dependencies on other packages
1216 9.13 Conflicts with other packages
1217 9.14 Software which has a WWW Home Page
1218 9.15 How to handle modified distfiles with the 'old' name
1221 9.1 Packages using GNU autoconfig
1222 =================================
1224 If your package uses GNU autoconf, add the following to your package's
1227 > GNU_CONFIGURE= yes
1229 Note that this appends --prefix=${PREFIX} to CONFIGURE_ARGS, so you don't
1230 have to do that yourself, and this may not be what you want.
1233 9.2 Other distrib methods than .tar.gz
1234 ======================================
1236 If your package uses a different distribution method from .tar.gz, take a
1237 look at the package for plan9/sam, which uses a gzipped shell archive
1238 (shar), but the quick solution is to set EXTRACT_SUFX to the name after the
1239 DISTNAME field, and add the following to your package's Makefile:
1241 > EXTRACT_SUFX= .msg.gz
1243 > EXTRACT_BEFORE_ARGS=
1244 > EXTRACT_AFTER_ARGS= |sh
1247 9.3 Packages not creating their own subdirectory
1248 ================================================
1250 Your package doesn't create a subdirectory for itself (like GNU software
1251 does, for instance), but extracts itself in the current directory: see
1252 plan9/sam again, but the quick answer is:
1257 9.4 Custom configuration process
1258 ================================
1260 Your package uses a weird Configure script: See the top package, but the
1263 > HAS_CONFIGURE= yes
1264 > CONFIGURE_SCRIPT= Configure
1265 > CONFIGURE_ARGS+= netbsd13
1268 9.5 Packages not building in their DISTNAME directory
1269 ======================================================
1271 Your package builds in a different directory from its base DISTNAME - see
1272 tcl and tk packages:
1274 > WRKSRC= ${WRKDIR}/${DISTNAME}/unix
1277 9.6 How to fetch all distfiles at once
1278 ======================================
1280 You would like to download all the distfiles in a single batch from work or
1281 university, where you can't run a "make fetch". But there's no archive of
1282 the distfiles on ftp.netbsd.org and the one on ftp.freebsd.org contains
1283 many distfiles for which there are no ports (yet).
1285 The answer here is to do a "make fetch-list" in /usr/pkgsrc and use the
1289 9.7 How to fetch files from behind a firewall
1290 =============================================
1292 If you are sitting behind a firewall which does not allow direct connections
1293 to Internet hosts (i.e. non-NAT), you may specify the relevant proxy hosts.
1294 This is done using an environment variable in the form of a URL
1295 e.g. in Amdahl, the machine orpheus.amdahl.com is one of the firewalls, and
1296 it uses port 80 as the proxy port number. So the proxy environment
1297 variables look like:
1299 ftp_proxy=ftp://orpheus.amdahl.com:80/
1300 http_proxy=http://orpheus.amdahl.com:80/
1303 9.8 If your patch contains an RCS ID
1304 ====================================
1306 See section 4.3 on how to remove RCS IDs from patch files.
1309 9.9 How to pull in variables from /etc/mk.conf
1310 ==============================================
1312 The problem with package-defined variables that can be overridden via
1313 MAKECONF or /etc/mk.conf is that make(1) expands a variable as it is
1314 used, but evaluates preprocessor like statements (.if, .ifdef and
1315 .ifndef) as they are read. So, to use any variable (which may be set
1316 in /etc/mk.conf) in one of the .if* statements, the file /etc/mk.conf
1317 must be included before that .if* statement.
1319 Rather than have a number of ad-hoc ways of including /etc/mk.conf,
1320 should it exist, or MAKECONF, should it exist, include the
1321 pkgsrc/mk/bsd.prefs.mk file in the package Makefile before any
1322 preprocessor-like .if, .ifdef, or .ifndef statements:
1324 .include "../../mk/bsd.prefs.mk"
1326 .if defined(USE_MENUS)
1331 9.10 Is there a mailing list for pkg-related discussion?
1332 ========================================================
1334 Yes. We are using tech-pkg@netbsd.org for discussing package related
1335 issues. To subscribe do:
1337 echo subscribe tech-pkg | mail majordomo@netbsd.org
1340 9.11 How do i tell "make fetch" to do passive FTP?
1341 ==================================================
1343 This depends on which utility is used to retrieve distfiles. From
1344 bsd.pkg.mk, FETCH_CMD is assigned the first available command from the
1348 ${LOCALBASE}/bsd/bin/ftp
1351 On a default NetBSD install, this will be /usr/bin/ftp, which automatically
1352 tries passive connections first, and falls back to active connections if the
1353 server refuses to do passive. For the other tools, add the following to your
1354 /etc/mk.conf file: PASSIVE_FETCH=1
1356 Having that option present will prevent /usr/bin/ftp from falling back to
1360 9.12 Dependencies on other packages
1361 ===================================
1363 Your package may depend on some other package being present - and there are
1364 various ways of expressing this dependency. NetBSD supports the
1365 BUILD_DEPENDS and DEPENDS definitions (beware: the DEPENDS definition is
1366 not the same as FreeBSD's deprecated one, and NetBSD does not use the
1367 FreeBSD LIB_DEPENDS definition any more - it proved problematic on ELF
1370 [In the following examples, the BUILD_DEPENDS dependencies have the format:
1371 <file>:<directory containing package to build>[:<stage>] If the <stage>
1372 isn't specified, it defaults to ``install''. If the file contains a '/', it
1373 is interpreted as a regular file - otherwise, the name is taken to be an
1374 executable file, and the PATH is searched for <file>. If the regular file
1375 is not found, or the executable file is not in the path, then the
1376 pre-requisite package will be built from the sources in <directory
1377 containing the package to build>. The DEPENDS definition specifies a
1378 package name (which contains its version number), and the directory
1379 containing the package to build if this version of the package is not
1382 (a) If your package needs files from another package to build, see the
1383 print/ghostscript5 package (it relies on the jpeg sources being
1384 present in source form during the build):
1386 BUILD_DEPENDS+= ../../graphics/jpeg/${WRKDIR:T}/jpeg-6a:../../graphics/jpeg:extract
1388 (b) If your package needs to use another package to build itself, this
1389 is specified using the BUILD_DEPENDS definition, but without
1390 specifying the stage ``:extract'' in (a) above. An example is the
1391 print/lyx package, which uses the latex binary during its build
1394 BUILD_DEPENDS+= latex:../../print/teTeX
1396 (c) If your package needs a library with which to link, this is
1397 specified using the DEPENDS definition. An example of this is the
1398 print/lyx package, which uses the xpm library, version 3.4j to build.
1400 DEPENDS+= xpm-3.4j:../../graphics/xpm
1402 You can also use wildcards in package dependences:
1404 DEPENDS+= xpm-*:../../graphics/xpm
1406 Note that such wildcard dependencies are retained when creating
1407 binary package. The dependency is checked when installing the binary
1408 package and any package which matches the pattern would be used.
1409 Beware that wildard dependencies should be used with a bit of care.
1410 Simple example for package which needs some version of Tk installed,
1411 but doesn't care which exactly - dependency
1413 DEPENDS+= tk-*:../../x11/tk80
1415 would also match e.g. tk-postgresql-6.5.3, which is not what was
1416 needed. ALWAYS ensure that the wildcard doesn't match more than it should.
1418 (d) If your package needs some executable to be able to run correctly, this
1419 is specified using the DEPENDS definition. The print/lyx package needs to
1420 be able to execute the latex binary from the teTex package when it runs,
1421 and that is specified:
1423 DEPENDS+= teTex-*:../../print/teTeX
1425 The comment about wildcard dependencies from previous paragraph
1429 9.13 Conflicts with other packages
1430 ==================================
1432 Your package may conflict with other packages a user might already have
1433 installed on his system, e.g. if your package installs the same set of
1434 files like another package in our pkgsrc tree.
1436 In this case you can set CONFLICTS to a space separated list of packages
1437 (including version string) your package conflicts with.
1439 For example pkgsrc/x11/Xaw3d and pkgsrc/x11/Xaw-Xpm install provide the
1440 same shared library, thus you set in pkgsrc/x11/Xaw3d/Makefile:
1442 CONFLICTS= Xaw-Xpm-*
1444 and in pkgsrc/x11/Xaw-Xpm/Makefile:
1448 Packages will automatically conflict with other packages with the name prefix
1449 and a different version string. "Xaw3d-1.5" e.g. will automatically conflict
1450 with the older version "Xaw3d-1.3".
1452 9.14 Software which has a WWW Home Page
1453 =======================================
1455 The NetBSD packages system now supports a variable called HOMEPAGE.
1456 If the software being packaged has a home page, the Makefile should
1457 include the URL for that page in the HOMEPAGE variable. The definition
1458 of the variable should be placed immediately after the MAINTAINER
1461 9.15 How to handle modified distfiles with the 'old' name
1462 =========================================================
1464 Sometimes authors of a software package make some modifications after the
1465 software was released, and they put up a new distfile without changing the
1466 package's version number. If a package is already in pkgsrc at that time,
1467 the md5 checksum will no longer match. The correct way to work around this
1468 is to update the package's md5 checksum to match the package on the master
1469 site (beware, any mirrors may not be up to date yet!), and to remove the
1470 old distfile from ftp.netbsd.org's /pub/NetBSD/packages/distfiles directory.
1471 Furthermore, a mail to the package's author seems appropriate making sure
1472 the distfile was really updated on purpose, and that no trojan horse or so
1475 9.16 What does "Don't know how to make /usr/share/tmac/tmac.andoc" mean?
1476 ========================================================================
1478 When compiling the pkgsrc/pkgtools/pkg_install package, you get the error
1479 from make that it doesn't know how to make /usr/share/tmac/tmac.andoc? This
1480 indicates that you don't have installed the "text" set on your machine
1481 (nroff, ...). Please do that.
1483 9.17 How to handle incrementing versions when fixing an existing package
1484 ========================================================================
1486 When making fixes to an existing package it can be useful to change
1487 the version number in PKGNAME. To avoid conflicting with future versions
1488 by the original author, use a 'nb1' suffix (later versions should
1489 increment this to give 'nb2' and so on).
1494 * precompiled binary packages:
1495 Our policy is that we accept binaries from only NetBSD developers to
1496 guarantee that the packages don't contain any trojan horses etc.
1497 This is not to piss anyone off but rather to protect our users!
1498 You're still free to put up your home-made binary packages and tell
1499 the world where to get them.
1502 First, check that your package is complete, compiles and runs well; see
1503 section 8 and the rest of this document. Then, generate a gzipped
1504 tar-file of all the files needed for the package, preferably with all
1505 files in a single directory. Place this tar-file to a place where the
1506 package maintainers can fetch it using FTP or HTTP (WWW). Finally,
1507 send-pr with category "pkg", a synopsis which includes the package name
1508 and version number, a short description of your package
1509 (contents of pkg/COMMENT are OK) and the URL of your tar-file.
1511 You will be notified if your send-pr has been addressed so you can remove
1515 11 A simple example of a package: bison
1516 =======================================
1518 I checked to find a piece of software that isn't in the FreeBSD ports
1519 collection, and picked GNU bison. Quite why someone would want to have
1520 bison when Berkeley yacc is already present in the tree is beyond me, but
1521 it's useful for the purposes of this exercise.
1527 The file contents in this section must be used without the "> " prefix.
1535 > DISTNAME= bison-1.25
1537 > MASTER_SITES= ${MASTER_SITE_GNU}
1539 > MAINTAINER= thorpej@netbsd.org
1540 > HOMEPAGE= http://www.gnu.org/software/bison/bison.html
1542 > GNU_CONFIGURE= yes
1543 > INFO_FILES= bison.info
1545 > .include "../../mk/bsd.pkg.mk"
1557 > GNU version of yacc. Can make re-entrant parsers, and numerous other
1558 > improvements. Why you would want this when Berkeley yacc(1) is part
1559 > of the NetBSD source tree is beyond me.
1565 > @comment <$>NetBSD<$>
1567 > man/man1/bison.1.gz
1568 > @unexec install-info --delete %D/info/bison.info %D/info/dir
1575 > @exec install-info %D/info/bison.info %D/info/dir
1576 > share/bison.simple
1580 11.1.5 Checking a package "pkglint"
1581 ===================================
1583 The NetBSD package system comes with a tool called "pkglint" (located in the
1584 directory "pkgsrc/pkgtools/pkglint") which helps to check the contents of these
1585 files. After installation it is quite easy to use, just change to the
1586 directory of the package you which to examine and execute "pkglint":
1588 > tron@lyssa:/usr/pkgsrc/devel/bison>pkglint
1589 > OK: checking pkg/COMMENT.
1590 > OK: checking pkg/DESCR.
1591 > OK: checking Makefile.
1592 > OK: checking files/md5.
1593 > OK: checking patches/patch-aa.
1596 Depending on the supplied command line arguments (see "man pkglint") more
1597 intensive checks will be performed. Use e.g. "pkglint -a -v" for a very
1598 detailed and verbose check.
1601 11.2 Steps for building, installing, packaging
1602 ==============================================
1604 Create the directory where the package lives, plus any auxiliary directories:
1606 > root@pumpy:/u/pkgsrc/lang(1765)# cd /usr/pkgsrc/lang
1607 > root@pumpy:/u/pkgsrc/lang(1765)# mkdir bison
1608 > root@pumpy:/u/pkgsrc/lang(1766)# cd bison
1609 > root@pumpy:/u/pkgsrc/lang/bison(1768)# mkdir files patches pkg
1611 Create Makefile, pkg/COMMENT, pkg/DESCR and pkg/PLIST as in section 11.1,
1612 then continue with fetching the distfile:
1614 > root@pumpy:/u/pkgsrc/lang/bison(1769)# make fetch
1615 > >> bison-1.25.tar.gz doesn't seem to exist on this system.
1616 > >> Attempting to fetch from ftp://prep.ai.mit.edu/pub/gnu//.
1617 > Requesting ftp://prep.ai.mit.edu/pub/gnu//bison-1.25.tar.gz (via ftp://orpheus.amdahl.com:80/)
1618 > ftp: Error retrieving file: 500 Internal error
1620 > >> Attempting to fetch from ftp://wuarchive.wustl.edu/systems/gnu//.
1621 > Requesting ftp://wuarchive.wustl.edu/systems/gnu//bison-1.25.tar.gz (via ftp://orpheus.amdahl.com:80/)
1622 > ftp: Error retrieving file: 500 Internal error
1624 > >> Attempting to fetch from ftp://ftp.freebsd.org/pub/FreeBSD/distfiles//.
1625 > Requesting ftp://ftp.freebsd.org/pub/FreeBSD/distfiles//bison-1.25.tar.gz (via ftp://orpheus.amdahl.com:80/)
1626 > Successfully retrieved file.
1628 Generate the checksum of the distfile into files/md5:
1630 > root@pumpy:/u/pkgsrc/lang/bison(1770)# make makesum
1634 > root@pumpy:/u/pkgsrc/lang/bison(1777)# make
1635 > >> Checksum OK for bison-1.25.tar.gz.
1636 > ===> Extracting for bison-1.25
1637 > ===> Patching for bison-1.25
1638 > ===> Ignoring empty patch directory
1639 > ===> Configuring for bison-1.25
1640 > creating cache ./config.cache
1641 > checking for gcc... cc
1642 > checking whether we are using GNU C... yes
1643 > checking for a BSD compatible install... /usr/bin/install -c -o bin -g bin
1644 > checking how to run the C preprocessor... cc -E
1645 > checking for minix/config.h... no
1646 > checking for POSIXized ISC... no
1647 > checking whether cross-compiling... no
1648 > checking for ANSI C header files... yes
1649 > checking for string.h... yes
1650 > checking for stdlib.h... yes
1651 > checking for memory.h... yes
1652 > checking for working const... yes
1653 > checking for working alloca.h... no
1654 > checking for alloca... yes
1655 > checking for strerror... yes
1656 > updating cache ./config.cache
1657 > creating ./config.status
1659 > ===> Building for bison-1.25
1660 > cc -c -DSTDC_HEADERS=1 -DHAVE_STRING_H=1 -DHAVE_STDLIB_H=1 -DHAVE_MEMORY_H=1 -DHAVE_ALLOCA=1 -DHAVE_STRERROR=1 -I./../include -g LR0.c
1661 > cc -c -DSTDC_HEADERS=1 -DHAVE_STRING_H=1 -DHAVE_STDLIB_H=1 -DHAVE_MEMORY_H=1 -DHAVE_ALLOCA=1 -DHAVE_STRERROR=1 -I./../include -g allocate.c
1662 > cc -c -DSTDC_HEADERS=1 -DHAVE_STRING_H=1 -DHAVE_STDLIB_H=1 -DHAVE_MEMORY_H=1 -DHAVE_ALLOCA=1 -DHAVE_STRERROR=1 -I./../include -g closure.c
1663 > cc -c -DSTDC_HEADERS=1 -DHAVE_STRING_H=1 -DHAVE_STDLIB_H=1 -DHAVE_MEMORY_H=1 -DHAVE_ALLOCA=1 -DHAVE_STRERROR=1 -I./../include -g conflicts.c
1664 > cc -c -DSTDC_HEADERS=1 -DHAVE_STRING_H=1 -DHAVE_STDLIB_H=1 -DHAVE_MEMORY_H=1 -DHAVE_ALLOCA=1 -DHAVE_STRERROR=1 -I./../include -g derives.c
1665 > cc -c -DXPFILE=\"/usr/pkg/share/bison.simple\" -DXPFILE1=\"/usr/pkg/share/bison.hairy\" -DSTDC_HEADERS=1 -DHAVE_STRING_H=1 -DHAVE_STDLIB_H=1 -DHAVE_MEMORY_H=1 -DHAVE_ALLOCA=1 -DHAVE_STRERROR=1 -g ./files.c
1666 > cc -c -DSTDC_HEADERS=1 -DHAVE_STRING_H=1 -DHAVE_STDLIB_H=1 -DHAVE_MEMORY_H=1 -DHAVE_ALLOCA=1 -DHAVE_STRERROR=1 -I./../include -g getargs.c
1667 > cc -c -DSTDC_HEADERS=1 -DHAVE_STRING_H=1 -DHAVE_STDLIB_H=1 -DHAVE_MEMORY_H=1 -DHAVE_ALLOCA=1 -DHAVE_STRERROR=1 -I./../include -g gram.c
1668 > cc -c -DSTDC_HEADERS=1 -DHAVE_STRING_H=1 -DHAVE_STDLIB_H=1 -DHAVE_MEMORY_H=1 -DHAVE_ALLOCA=1 -DHAVE_STRERROR=1 -I./../include -g lalr.c
1669 > cc -c -DSTDC_HEADERS=1 -DHAVE_STRING_H=1 -DHAVE_STDLIB_H=1 -DHAVE_MEMORY_H=1 -DHAVE_ALLOCA=1 -DHAVE_STRERROR=1 -I./../include -g lex.c
1670 > cc -c -DSTDC_HEADERS=1 -DHAVE_STRING_H=1 -DHAVE_STDLIB_H=1 -DHAVE_MEMORY_H=1 -DHAVE_ALLOCA=1 -DHAVE_STRERROR=1 -I./../include -g main.c
1671 > cc -c -DSTDC_HEADERS=1 -DHAVE_STRING_H=1 -DHAVE_STDLIB_H=1 -DHAVE_MEMORY_H=1 -DHAVE_ALLOCA=1 -DHAVE_STRERROR=1 -I./../include -g nullable.c
1672 > cc -c -DSTDC_HEADERS=1 -DHAVE_STRING_H=1 -DHAVE_STDLIB_H=1 -DHAVE_MEMORY_H=1 -DHAVE_ALLOCA=1 -DHAVE_STRERROR=1 -I./../include -g output.c
1673 > cc -c -DSTDC_HEADERS=1 -DHAVE_STRING_H=1 -DHAVE_STDLIB_H=1 -DHAVE_MEMORY_H=1 -DHAVE_ALLOCA=1 -DHAVE_STRERROR=1 -I./../include -g print.c
1674 > cc -c -DSTDC_HEADERS=1 -DHAVE_STRING_H=1 -DHAVE_STDLIB_H=1 -DHAVE_MEMORY_H=1 -DHAVE_ALLOCA=1 -DHAVE_STRERROR=1 -I./../include -g reader.c
1675 > cc -c -DSTDC_HEADERS=1 -DHAVE_STRING_H=1 -DHAVE_STDLIB_H=1 -DHAVE_MEMORY_H=1 -DHAVE_ALLOCA=1 -DHAVE_STRERROR=1 -I./../include -g reduce.c
1676 > cc -c -DSTDC_HEADERS=1 -DHAVE_STRING_H=1 -DHAVE_STDLIB_H=1 -DHAVE_MEMORY_H=1 -DHAVE_ALLOCA=1 -DHAVE_STRERROR=1 -I./../include -g symtab.c
1677 > cc -c -DSTDC_HEADERS=1 -DHAVE_STRING_H=1 -DHAVE_STDLIB_H=1 -DHAVE_MEMORY_H=1 -DHAVE_ALLOCA=1 -DHAVE_STRERROR=1 -I./../include -g warshall.c
1678 > cc -c -DSTDC_HEADERS=1 -DHAVE_STRING_H=1 -DHAVE_STDLIB_H=1 -DHAVE_MEMORY_H=1 -DHAVE_ALLOCA=1 -DHAVE_STRERROR=1 -I./../include -g version.c
1679 > cc -c -DSTDC_HEADERS=1 -DHAVE_STRING_H=1 -DHAVE_STDLIB_H=1 -DHAVE_MEMORY_H=1 -DHAVE_ALLOCA=1 -DHAVE_STRERROR=1 -I./../include -g getopt.c
1680 > cc -c -DSTDC_HEADERS=1 -DHAVE_STRING_H=1 -DHAVE_STDLIB_H=1 -DHAVE_MEMORY_H=1 -DHAVE_ALLOCA=1 -DHAVE_STRERROR=1 -I./../include -g getopt1.c
1681 > cc -g -o bison LR0.o allocate.o closure.o conflicts.o derives.o files.o getargs.o gram.o lalr.o lex.o main.o nullable.o output.o print.o reader.o reduce.o symtab.o warshall.o version.o
1683 > ./files.c:240: warning: mktemp() possibly used unsafely, consider using mkstemp()
1685 > sed -e "/^#line/ s|bison|/usr/pkg/share/bison|" < ./bison.simple > bison.s1
1687 Everything seems OK, so install the files:
1689 > root@pumpy:/u/pkgsrc/lang/bison(1785)# make install
1690 > >> Checksum OK for bison-1.25.tar.gz.
1691 > ===> Installing for bison-1.25
1692 > sh ./mkinstalldirs /usr/pkg/bin /usr/pkg/share /usr/pkg/info /usr/pkg/man/man1
1693 > rm -f /usr/pkg/bin/bison
1694 > cd /usr/pkg/share; rm -f bison.simple bison.hairy
1695 > rm -f /usr/pkg/man/man1/bison.1 /usr/pkg/info/bison.info*
1696 > install -c -o bin -g bin -m 555 bison /usr/pkg/bin/bison
1697 > /usr/bin/install -c -o bin -g bin -m 644 bison.s1 /usr/pkg/share/bison.simple
1698 > /usr/bin/install -c -o bin -g bin -m 644 ./bison.hairy /usr/pkg/share/bison.hairy
1699 > cd .; for f in bison.info*; do /usr/bin/install -c -o bin -g bin -m 644 $f /usr/pkg/info/$f; done
1700 > /usr/bin/install -c -o bin -g bin -m 644 ./bison.1 /usr/pkg/man/man1/bison.1
1701 > ===> Registering installation for bison-1.25
1703 You can now use bison, and also - if you decide so - remove it with
1704 "pkg_delete bison-1.25". Should you decide that you want a binary package,
1707 > root@pumpy:/u/pkgsrc/lang/bison(1786)# make package
1708 > >> Checksum OK for bison-1.25.tar.gz.
1709 > ===> Building package for bison-1.25
1710 > Creating package bison-1.25.tgz
1711 > Registering depends:.
1712 > Creating gzip'd tar ball in '/u/pkgsrc/lang/bison/bison-1.25.tgz'
1714 Now that you don't need the source and object files any more, clean up:
1716 > root@pumpy:/u/pkgsrc/lang/bison(1787)# make clean
1717 > ===> Cleaning for bison-1.25
1720 ======================
1721 Appendix A: build logs
1722 ======================
1727 > Script started on Fri Oct 3 13:22:31 1997
1728 > root@pumpy:/u/pkgsrc/sysutils/top(1342)# make
1729 > >> top-3.5beta5.tar.gz doesn't seem to exist on this system.
1730 > >> Attempting to fetch from ftp://ftp.groupsys.com/pub/top/.
1731 > Requesting ftp://ftp.groupsys.com/pub/top/top-3.5beta5.tar.gz (via ftp://orpheus.amdahl.com:80/)
1732 > Successfully retrieved file.
1733 > >> Checksum OK for top-3.5beta5.tar.gz.
1734 > ===> Extracting for top-3.5beta5
1735 > ===> Patching for top-3.5beta5
1736 > ===> Applying NetBSD patches for top-3.5beta5
1737 > ===> Configuring for top-3.5beta5
1738 > /bin/cp /u/pkgsrc/sysutils/top/files/defaults /u/pkgsrc/sysutils/top/work/top-3.5beta5/.defaults
1739 > chmod a-x /u/pkgsrc/sysutils/top/work/top-3.5beta5/install
1741 > Reading configuration from last time...
1743 > Using these settings:
1744 > Bourne Shell /bin/sh
1746 > Compiler options -DHAVE_GETOPT -O
1748 > Install command /usr/bin/install
1755 > Random passwd access yes
1760 > bin directory $(PREFIX)/bin
1761 > man directory $(PREFIX)/man/man1
1765 > Building Makefile...
1766 > Building top.local.h...
1768 > Doing a "make clean".
1769 > rm -f *.o top core core.* sigdesc.h
1770 > To create the executable, type "make".
1771 > To install the executable, type "make install".
1772 > ===> Building for top-3.5beta5
1773 > cc -DHAVE_GETOPT -DORDER -DHAVE_GETOPT -O -c top.c
1774 > awk -f sigconv.awk /usr/include/sys/signal.h >sigdesc.h
1775 > cc -DHAVE_GETOPT -DORDER -DHAVE_GETOPT -O -c commands.c
1776 > cc -DHAVE_GETOPT -DORDER -DHAVE_GETOPT -O -c display.c
1777 > cc -DHAVE_GETOPT -DORDER -DHAVE_GETOPT -O -c screen.c
1778 > cc -DHAVE_GETOPT -DORDER -DHAVE_GETOPT -O -c username.c
1779 > cc -DHAVE_GETOPT -DORDER -DHAVE_GETOPT -O -c utils.c
1780 > utils.c: In function `errmsg':
1781 > utils.c:348: warning: return discards `const' from pointer target type
1782 > cc -DHAVE_GETOPT -DORDER -DHAVE_GETOPT -O -c version.c
1783 > cc -DHAVE_GETOPT -DORDER -DHAVE_GETOPT -O -c getopt.c
1784 > cc "-DOSREV=12G" -DHAVE_GETOPT -DORDER -DHAVE_GETOPT -O -c machine.c
1786 > cc -o top top.o commands.o display.o screen.o username.o utils.o version.o getopt.o machine.o -ltermcap -lm -lkvm
1787 > root@pumpy:/u/pkgsrc/sysutils/top(1343)# make install
1788 > >> Checksum OK for top-3.5beta5.tar.gz.
1789 > ===> Installing for top-3.5beta5
1790 > /usr/bin/install -o root -m 2755 -g kmem top /usr/pkg/bin
1791 > /usr/bin/install top.1 /usr/pkg/man/man1/top.1
1792 > strip /usr/pkg/bin/top
1793 > ===> Registering installation for top-3.5beta5
1794 > root@pumpy:/u/pkgsrc/sysutils/top(1344)#
1800 > root@pumpy:/u/pkgsrc/sysutils/top(1344)# make package
1801 > >> Checksum OK for top-3.5beta5.tar.gz.
1802 > ===> Building package for top-3.5beta5
1803 > Creating package top-3.5beta5.tgz
1804 > Registering depends:.
1805 > Creating gzip'd tar ball in '/u/pkgsrc/sysutils/top/top-3.5beta5.tgz'
1806 > root@pumpy:/u/pkgsrc/sysutils/top(1345)#
1809 ======================================================
1810 Appendix B: Layout of the FTP server's package archive
1811 ======================================================
1813 Layout for precompiled binary packages on ftp.netbsd.org:
1815 /pub/NetBSD/packages/
1818 pkgsrc -> /pub/NetBSD/NetBSD-current/pkgsrc
1836 - cd /usr/pkgsrc ; make install ; make package
1837 - upload /usr/pkgsrc/packages to
1838 ftp://ftp.netbsd.org/pub/NetBSD/packages/`uname -r`/`sysctl -n hw.machine_arch`
1839 - if necessary ln -s `sysctl -n hw.machine` `sysctl -n hw.machine_arch`
1841 Disk space needed: unknown.
1844 ###########################################################################
1848 # sentence-end-double-space: nil