pkgsrc/doc/guide/files/help-devel.xml

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<!-- $NetBSD: help-devel.xml,v 1.3 2019/11/22 19:48:58 rillig Exp $ -->
<chapter id="help-devel">
<title>Getting help</title>
<para>
To get help when developing pkgsrc, the definitive source is this
document, the pkgsrc guide. If you don't find anything here,
there are alternatives:
</para>
<itemizedlist>
<listitem><para>
The built-in pkgsrc help, which is available after bootstrapping
pkgsrc. Run <command>bmake help topic=&#x2026;</command> to get
help for any topic, such as a variable name like
<varname>BUILD_DEFS</varname>, a make target like
<command>do-build</command>, a missing C or C++ function like
<command>strcasecmp</command> or any other topic.</para>
<para>The available help topics are listed in <xref
linkend="help-topics" />.</para>
</listitem>
<listitem><para>
To see the value of a single variable, run <command>bmake
show-var VARNAME=<replaceable>X</replaceable></command>.
</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>
To see the values of the most common variables, run
<command>bmake show-all</command>. These variables are grouped by
topic. To see the variables for a single topic, run
<command>bmake
show-all-<replaceable>topic</replaceable></command>, for example
<command>bmake show-all-fetch</command>.
</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>
The tech-pkg mailing list, to which
<ulink url="https://www.NetBSD.org/mailinglists/#tech-pkg">you
can subscribe</ulink> and then <ulink
url="mailto:tech-pkg@NetBSD.org">ask your
questions</ulink>.</para>
</listitem>
<listitem><para>The #pkgsrc IRC channel, which is accessible
<ulink url="https://webchat.freenode.net/">via a web browser</ulink>
or by using a specialized chat program such as
<ulink url="http://xchat.org/">XChat</ulink>.
Pick any user name and join the channel #pkgsrc.</para>
</listitem>
</itemizedlist>
</chapter>