The FreeBSD Ports and Packages Collection offers a simple way for users and administrators to install applications. There are currently 22776 ports available.
To fetch the FreeBSD Ports tree for the first time, as root:
# portsnap fetch extract
Install portmaster to manage your ports without external databases or languages:
# cd /usr/ports/ports-mgmt/portmaster
# make install clean
To list all outdated and installed packages from the FreeBSD Ports tree:
# pkg_version -l '>'
(Packages that appear on the left of the > sign are outdated, and may be updated from the sources provided online.)
/usr/ports/UPDATING describes various issues and additional steps users may encounter and need to perform when updating a port, including such things as file format changes, changes in locations of configuration files, or other such incompatibilities with previous versions.
# less /usr/ports/UPDATING
Then, to upgrade all packages/ports:
# portmaster -Da
To update your packages in the future:
# portsnap fetch update
# pkg_version -l '>'
# less /usr/ports/UPDATING
# portmaster -Da
portmaster can also remove stale distfiles with the --clean-distfiles option. To clear old distfiles for all ports and automatically confirm their deletion, use the -t and -y flags respectively, i.e.,:
# portmaster -t -y --clean-distfiles
I perform the following set of commands when a significant error gets introduced into the ports tree:
# portmaster -dys --clean-distfiles
# portmaster -vy --check-depends
Also, if I need to rebuild a specific port and all of its dependencies, I use:
# portmaster -fR www/firefox