The fastest way to install software

In a recent post on users@, Michael Neumann wondered if it was possible to have the pkgsrc tools install binary packages whenever available, building from source only when needed. Going by Joerg Sonnenberger’s reply, yes it is:

DEPENDS_TARGET=bin-install
Set BINPKG_SITES similiar to PKG_PATH first.

BINPKG_SITES should be set to a list of binary package locations, separated by semicolons, as I recall – see the download page on the DragonFly website for a list.

xorg 6.9 removal

xorg 6.9 is going to be removed from pkgsrc soon; upgrade to the modular version when the chance presents itself. As the linked post says, you need these packages:

  • meta-pkgs/modular-xorg-apps
  • meta-pkgs/modular-xorg-fonts
  • meta-pkgs/modular-xorg-drivers
  • x11/modular-xorg-server
  • x11/xterm

(Though xterm can be replaced with other terminal programs) All these are available as packages from your local mirror, though programs dependent on X will need to be recompiled or reinstalled from binary packages.