Announcing the pkgsrc-2019Q2 release
reddit / BSD

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Gualdrapo · 2019-07-08 13:05

Do I bother if I ask how pkgsrc and portage are compared?
Specifically, pkgsrc allows 'fine tuning' a system like portage does?

I mean, I've been using Gentoo Linux for 10+ years and since my sister
made me install OpenBSD on her PC, it made more sense for me than
using a linux kernel.

At first I recalled Gentoo/OpenBSD, but since [it's
deprecated](https://wiki.gentoo.org/wiki/Gentoo_OpenBSD/Install_Guide)
I'm kind of wary about trying this route (though the stage3 tarball
linked on that page seems to still exist).

I've been told I can recompile and customize the kernel, and that
pkgsrc is a great alternative and easier to setup than emerge, but
it's still uncertain for me the 'tuning grade' of customization pkgsrc
allows compared to portage - or if I even can recompile and setup
'core' OpenBSD packages to my needs.

Thank you for your guidance :)

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PitifulView · 2019-07-08 13:14

pkgsrc doesn't package anything quite as basic as libc and kernel (for
any OS), it assumes you have a few basic libraries and a compiler.

I'd expect package options aren't quite as widely used. People mostly
make options for things they want to optionally exclude, like
generating docs if that depends on something like doxygen which takes
long to build.

adjusting compilation flags/swapping compilers is easy though.

one of the noteworthy bits about pkgsrc is that it doesn't stop you
from using openbsd ports at the same time, it installs everything into
/usr/pkg (or somewhere else) and nothing else is there.

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Gualdrapo · 2019-07-08 14:22

Thank you, I have a better idea of it now. Can I bother with a couple
questions?

> pkgsrc doesn't package anything quite as basic as libc and kernel

That means I would have to update kernel and core via the OS release
updates, or stating something like the `-current` flavour? Will the
kernel and core sources be pulled by pkgsrc on each update so I can
compile, or would I need to pull sources every time by myself?

> I'd expect package options aren't quite as widely used.

So for example, say I want to install nvim without python support (but
just for that specific package), or ffmpeg without chromium support.
Is that possible?

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ZoDalek · 2019-07-08 15:43

> That means I would have to update kernel and core via the OS release
updates, or stating something like the -current flavour?

OpenBSD, like most BSDs^1, has a clean separation between the
operating system and third party software. The base system (composed
of a handful of "sets" you can pick at install/upgrade time) has no
notion of packages. The kernel, libc, the common Unix utilities, etc
are all part of the OS.

You can upgrade OpenBSD using `bsd.rd` images or by compiling it
yourself (although I think this is discouraged). The next release,
OpenBSD 6.6, will include `sysupgrade` to automate downloading and
booting from `bsd.rd`.

Back to packages - the default OpenBSD package system installs
packages into a /usr/local prefix. pkgsrc can live side by side with
it, installing packages to /usr/pkg (or elsewhere, if you wish).

> So for example, say I want to install nvim without python support
(but just for that specific package), or ffmpeg without chromium
support. Is that possible?

That sort of thing is possible, yes:

https://www.netbsd.org/docs/pkgsrc/configuring.html#selecting-build-
options

(Unfortunately, nvim doesn't seem to be packaged and ffmpeg doesn't
have a chromium option.)

^1 Excluding efforts like [pkgbase](https://trueos.github.io/pkgbase-
docs/)

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Gualdrapo · 2019-07-08 16:12

Thank you for your complete answer. Will look into all of that with
more deep. The pkgbase thing seems interesting, though.

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illumosguy · 2019-07-11 08:38

> 1 Excluding efforts like [pkgbase](https://trueos.github.io/pkgbase-
docs/)

and [pkgbase](https://github.com/user340/basepkg) ;)