351 lines
12 KiB
XML
351 lines
12 KiB
XML
<!-- $NetBSD: introduction.xml,v 1.22 2007/04/21 02:59:53 kano Exp $ -->
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<chapter id="introduction">
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<title>What is pkgsrc?</title>
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<sect1 id="introduction-section">
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<title>Introduction</title>
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<para>There is a lot of software freely available for Unix-based
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systems, which is usually available in form of the source code. Before
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such software can be used, it needs to be configured to the local
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system, compiled and installed, and this is exactly what The NetBSD
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Packages Collection (pkgsrc) does. pkgsrc also has some basic commands
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to handle binary packages, so that not every user has to build the
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packages for himself, which is a time-costly task.</para>
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<para>pkgsrc currently contains several thousand packages,
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including:</para>
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<itemizedlist>
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<listitem>
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<para><filename role="pkg">www/apache</filename> - The Apache
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web server</para>
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</listitem>
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<listitem>
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<para><filename role="pkg">www/firefox</filename> - The Firefox
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web browser</para>
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</listitem>
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<listitem>
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<para><filename role="pkg">meta-pkgs/gnome</filename> - The GNOME
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Desktop Environment</para>
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</listitem>
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<listitem>
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<para><filename role="pkg">meta-pkgs/kde3</filename> - The K
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Desktop Environment</para>
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</listitem>
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</itemizedlist>
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<para>...just to name a few.</para>
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<para>pkgsrc has built-in support for handling varying dependencies,
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such as pthreads and X11, and extended features such as IPv6 support on
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a range of platforms.</para>
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<sect2 id="why-pkgsrc">
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<title>Why pkgsrc?</title>
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<para>
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pkgsrc provides the following key features:
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</para>
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<itemizedlist>
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<listitem><para>Easy building of software from source as well as the creation
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and installation of binary packages. The source and latest
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patches are retrieved from a master or mirror download site, checksum
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verified, then built on your system. Support for binary-only
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distributions is available for both native platforms and NetBSD
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emulated platforms.</para></listitem>
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<listitem><para>All packages are installed in a consistent directory tree,
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including binaries, libraries, man pages and other
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documentation.</para></listitem>
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<listitem><para>Package dependencies, including when performing package updates,
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are handled automatically. The configuration files of various
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packages are handled automatically during updates, so local changes
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are preserved.</para></listitem>
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<listitem><para>Like NetBSD, pkgsrc is designed with portability in mind and
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consists of highly portable code. This allows the greatest speed of
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development when porting to new a platform. This portability also
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ensures that pkgsrc is <emphasis>consistent across all
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platforms</emphasis>.</para></listitem>
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<listitem><para>The installation prefix, acceptable software licenses,
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international encryption requirements and build-time options for a
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large number of packages are all set in a simple, central
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configuration file.</para></listitem>
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<listitem><para>The entire source (not including the distribution files) is
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freely available under a BSD license, so you may extend and adapt
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pkgsrc to your needs. Support for local packages and patches is
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available right out of the box, so you can configure it specifically
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for your environment.</para></listitem>
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</itemizedlist>
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<para>The following principles are basic to pkgsrc:</para>
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<itemizedlist>
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<listitem><para><quote>It should only work if it's right.</quote>
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— That means, if a package contains bugs, it's better to find
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them and to complain about them rather than to just install the package
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and hope that it works. There are numerous checks in pkgsrc that try to
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find such bugs: Static analysis tools (<filename
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role="pkg">pkgtools/pkglint</filename>), build-time checks (portability
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of shell scripts), and post-installation checks (installed files,
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references to shared libraries, script interpreters).</para></listitem>
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<listitem><para><quote>If it works, it should work everywhere</quote>
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— Like NetBSD has been ported to many hardware architectures,
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pkgsrc has been ported to many operating systems. Care is taken that
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packages behave the same on all platforms.</para></listitem>
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</itemizedlist>
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</sect2>
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<sect2 id="intro.platforms">
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<title>Supported platforms</title>
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<para>pkgsrc consists of both a source distribution and a binary
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distribution for these operating systems. After retrieving the required
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source or binaries, you can be up and running with pkgsrc in just
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minutes!</para>
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<para>pkgsrc was derived from FreeBSD's ports system, and
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initially developed for NetBSD only. Since then, pkgsrc has
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grown a lot, and now supports the following platforms:</para>
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<table id="supported-platforms">
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<title>Platforms supported by pkgsrc</title>
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<tgroup cols = "2">
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<thead>
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<row>
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<entry>Platform</entry>
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<entry>Date Support Added</entry>
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</row>
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</thead>
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<tbody>
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<row>
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<entry><ulink url="http://www.NetBSD.org/">NetBSD</ulink></entry>
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<entry align="center">Aug 1997</entry>
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</row>
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<row>
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<entry><ulink url="http://wwws.sun.com/software/solaris/">Solaris</ulink></entry>
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<entry align="center">Mar 1999</entry>
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</row>
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<row>
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<entry><ulink url="http://www.kernel.org/">Linux</ulink></entry>
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<entry align="center">Jun 1999</entry>
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</row>
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<row>
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<entry>
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<ulink url="http://developer.apple.com/darwin/">Darwin</ulink>
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(<ulink url="http://developer.apple.com/macosx/">Mac OS X</ulink>)
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</entry>
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<entry align="center">Oct 2001</entry>
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</row>
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<row>
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<entry><ulink url="http://www.freebsd.org/">FreeBSD</ulink></entry>
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<entry align="center">Nov 2002</entry>
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</row>
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<row>
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<entry><ulink url="http://www.openbsd.org/">OpenBSD</ulink></entry>
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<entry align="center">Nov 2002</entry>
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</row>
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<row>
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<entry><ulink url="http://www.sgi.com/software/irix/">IRIX</ulink></entry>
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<entry align="center">Dec 2002</entry>
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</row>
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<row>
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<entry>BSD/OS</entry>
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<entry align="center">Dec 2003</entry>
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</row>
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<row>
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<entry><ulink url="http://www-1.ibm.com/servers/aix/">AIX</ulink></entry>
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<entry align="center">Dec 2003</entry>
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</row>
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<row>
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<entry>
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<ulink url="http://www.microsoft.com/windows/sfu/">Interix</ulink>
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(Microsoft Windows Services for Unix)
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</entry>
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<entry align="center">Mar 2004</entry>
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</row>
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<row>
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<entry><ulink url="http://www.dragonflybsd.org/">DragonFlyBSD</ulink></entry>
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<entry align="center">Oct 2004</entry>
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</row>
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<row>
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<entry><ulink url="http://www.tru64.org/">OSF/1</ulink></entry>
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<entry align="center">Nov 2004</entry>
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</row>
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<row>
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<entry><ulink url="http://www.hp.com/products1/unix/">HP-UX</ulink></entry>
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<entry align="center">Apr 2007</entry>
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</row>
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</tbody>
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</tgroup>
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</table>
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</sect2>
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</sect1>
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<sect1 id="overview">
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<title>Overview</title>
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<para>This document is divided into three parts. The first,
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<link linkend="users-guide" endterm="users-guide.title"/>,
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describes how one can use one of the packages in the Package
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Collection, either by installing a precompiled binary package,
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or by building one's own copy using the &os; package system.
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The second part, <link linkend="developers-guide"
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endterm="developers-guide.title"/>, explains how to prepare a
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package so it can be easily built by other &os; users without
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knowing about the package's building details. The third part,
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<link linkend="infrastructure" endterm="infrastructure.title"/>
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is intended for those who want to understand how pkgsrc is
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implemented.</para>
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<para>This document is available in various formats:
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<simplelist type="inline">
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<member><ulink url="index.html">HTML</ulink></member>
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<member><ulink url="pkgsrc.pdf">PDF</ulink></member>
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<member><ulink url="pkgsrc.ps">PS</ulink></member>
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<member><ulink url="pkgsrc.txt">TXT</ulink></member>
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</simplelist>.</para>
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</sect1>
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<sect1 id="terminology">
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<title>Terminology</title>
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<para>There has been a lot of talk about <quote>ports</quote>,
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<quote>packages</quote>, etc. so far. Here is a description of all the
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terminology used within this document.</para>
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<variablelist>
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<varlistentry>
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<term>Package</term>
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<listitem>
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<para>A set of files and building instructions
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that describe what's necessary
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to build a certain piece of software using
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pkgsrc. Packages are traditionally stored under
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<filename>/usr/pkgsrc</filename>.</para>
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</listitem>
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</varlistentry>
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<varlistentry>
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<term>The &os; package system</term>
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<listitem>
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<para>This is the former name of <quote>pkgsrc</quote>. It
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is part of the &os; operating system and can be bootstrapped
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to run on non-&os; operating systems as well. It handles
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building (compiling), installing, and removing of
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packages.</para>
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</listitem>
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</varlistentry>
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<varlistentry>
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<term>Distfile</term>
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<listitem>
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<para>This term describes the file or files that are
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provided by the author of the piece of software to
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distribute his work. All the changes necessary to build on
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&os; are reflected in the corresponding package. Usually
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the distfile is in the form of a compressed tar-archive,
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but other types are possible, too. Distfiles are usually
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stored below
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<filename>/usr/pkgsrc/distfiles</filename>.</para>
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</listitem>
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</varlistentry>
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<varlistentry>
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<term>Port</term>
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<listitem>
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<para>This is the term used by FreeBSD and OpenBSD people
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for what we call a package.
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In &os; terminology, <quote>port</quote> refers to a different
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architecture.</para>
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</listitem>
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</varlistentry>
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<varlistentry>
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<term>Precompiled/binary package</term>
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<listitem>
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<para>A set of binaries built with pkgsrc from a distfile
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and stuffed together in a single <filename>.tgz</filename>
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file so it can be installed on machines of the same
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machine architecture without the need to
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recompile. Packages are usually generated in
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<filename>/usr/pkgsrc/packages</filename>; there is also
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an archive on <ulink
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url="ftp://ftp.NetBSD.org/pub/NetBSD/packages/">ftp.NetBSD.org</ulink>.</para>
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<para>Sometimes, this is referred to by the term <quote>package</quote> too,
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especially in the context of precompiled packages.</para>
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</listitem>
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</varlistentry>
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<varlistentry>
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<term>Program</term>
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<listitem>
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<para>The piece of software to be installed which will be
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constructed from all the files in the distfile by the
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actions defined in the corresponding package.</para>
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</listitem>
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</varlistentry>
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</variablelist>
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<sect2 id="term.roles">
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<title>Roles involved in pkgsrc</title>
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<variablelist>
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<varlistentry><term>pkgsrc users</term><listitem><para>The
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pkgsrc users are people who use the packages provided by pkgsrc.
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Typically they are system administrators. The people using the
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software that is inside the packages (maybe called <quote>end
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users</quote>) are not covered by the pkgsrc guide.</para>
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<para>There are two kinds of pkgsrc users: Some only want to
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install pre-built binary packages. Others build the pkgsrc
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packages from source, either for installing them directly or for
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building binary packages themselves. For pkgsrc users <xref
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linkend="users-guide"/> should provide all necessary
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documentation.</para></listitem></varlistentry>
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<varlistentry><term>package maintainers</term><listitem><para>A
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package maintainer creates packages as described in <xref
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linkend="developers-guide"/>.</para></listitem></varlistentry>
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<varlistentry><term>infrastructure developers</term>
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<listitem><para>These people are involved in all those files
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that live in the <filename>mk/</filename> directory and below.
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Only these people should need to read through <xref
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linkend="infrastructure"/>, though others might be curious,
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too.</para></listitem></varlistentry>
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</variablelist>
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</sect2>
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</sect1>
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<sect1 id="typography">
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<title>Typography</title>
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<para>When giving examples for commands, shell prompts are used to
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show if the command should/can be issued as root, or if
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<quote>normal</quote> user privileges are sufficient. We use a
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&rprompt; for root's shell prompt, and a &cprompt; for users'
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shell prompt, assuming they use the C-shell or tcsh.</para>
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</sect1>
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</chapter>
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