4.3.2. Quick Porting

This section tells you how to do a quick port. In many cases, it is not enough, but we'll see.

First, get the original tarball and put it into ${DISTDIR}, which defaults to /usr/ports/distfiles.

Note: The following assumes that the software compiled out-of-the-box, i.e., there was absolutely no change required for the port to work on your FreeBSD box. If you needed to change something, you'll have to refer to the next section too.

4.3.2.1. Writing the Makefile

The minimal Makefile would look something like this:

 # New ports collection makefile for:	oneko
 # Version required:	1.1b
 # Date created:		5 December 1994
 # Whom:			asami
 #
 # $Id: porting.sgml,v 1.2.4.2 1995/10/12 03:16:25 jfieber Exp $
 #
 
 DISTNAME=	oneko-1.1b
 CATEGORIES+=	games
 MASTER_SITES=	ftp://ftp.cs.columbia.edu/archives/X11R5/contrib/
 
 MAINTAINER=	asami@FreeBSD.ORG
 
 USE_IMAKE=	yes
 
 .include <bsd.port.mk>

See if you can figure it out. Don't worry about the contents of the $Id$ line, it will be filled in automatically by CVS when the port is imported to our main ports tree.

4.3.2.2. Writing the description files

There are three required description files that are required for any port, whether they actually package or not. They are COMMENT, DESCR, and PLIST, and reside in the pkg subdirectory.

COMMENT

This is the one-line description of the port. It is recommended to have the name of the package at the beginning, as in:

oneko-1.1b, a cat chasing a mouse all over the screen

DESCR

This is a longer description of the port. One to a few paragraphs concisely explaining what the port does is sufficient. Note: This is not a manual nor an in-depth description on how to use or compile the port. In particular, please do not just copy the README file here, unless, of course, it's a concise description of the port.

It is recommended that you sign the name at the end of this file, and also state the version number, as in:

This is a port of oneko, in which a cat chases a poor mouse all over
the screen.
 :
(etc.)
 :
This is version 1.1b.

- Satoshi
asami@cs.berkeley.edu

PLIST

This file lists all the files installed by the port. It is also called the `packing list' because the package is generated by packing the files listed here. The pathnames are relative to the installation prefix (usually /usr/local or /usr/X11R6).

Here is a small example:

bin/oneko
man/man1/oneko.1.gz
lib/X11/app-defaults/Oneko
lib/X11/oneko/cat1.xpm
lib/X11/oneko/cat2.xpm
lib/X11/oneko/mouse.xpm

4.3.2.3. Creating the checksum file

Just type `make makesum'. The ports make rules will automatically generate the file files/md5.

4.3.2.4. Testing the port

You should make sure that the port rules do exactly what you want it to do, including packaging up the port. Try doing `make install', `make package' and then `pkg_delete -d <pkgname>' and see if all the files are correctly deleted. Then do a `pkg_add <pkgname>.tgz' and see if everything re-appears and works correctly.

4.3.2.5. Submitting the port

Now that you're happy with your port, the only thing remaining is to put it in the main FreeBSD ports tree and make everybody else happy about it too. To accomplish this, pack the necessary files (everything described in this section -- in particular do not include the original source tarball or the `work' subdirectory) into a .tar.gz file, stick it in the directory

ftp://ftp.freebsd.org/pub/FreeBSD/incoming/