What to do if you don't want to, or don't have, the entire ports tree and need to install a port? Well, portcheckout is one option. Using just the /usr/ports/INDEX file, it will dumpt to stdout the commands to be used to build the port. This way, you can just go get the parts needed, rather than the whole tree.
One note is that the man page isn't all that clear on exactly what is required. But the implication is that you need the INDEX file from the ports tree, and probably nothing else. Of course, in these days of 400gb hard drives, the ports tree is a miniscule disk hit!
FreeBSD Hypertext Man Pages: portcheckout
Here's an interesting addition to the "build a port w/o port tree" question. In Dru Lavigne's O'Reilly book "BSD Hacks", there is a chapter on this. And lucky for us, Hack 82 "Build a Port Without the Ports Tree", is available for free from the O'Reilly web site. Check it out:
ReplyDeletehttp://www.oreilly.com/catalog/bsdhks/