Absolute OpenBSD, 2nd Edition

Building Ports

You’ve decided to ignore the OpenBSD team’s recommendations to use packages, downloaded and extracted the ports tree, found software you need to install from ports, and designated an area for building ports. Now what?

The port directories don’t contain actual source code. When you build a package from a port, the system does the following:

• Automatically downloads the appropriate source code from an approved Internet site

• Checks the downloaded code for integrity errors

• Extracts the code to the build area

• Patches the code

• Compiles the code

• Creates the package

• Installs the package (optional)

Additionally, if the port you’re adding has unmet dependencies, the system also handles installing those dependencies.

To make all this happen, ...