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FreeBSD Passes 9000 Ports

Posted by Hemos on from the great-work dept.

Dan writes "Kris Kennaway believes that the french/med port has the honour of being the 9000'th in the FreeBSD ports collection. Congratulations to everyone who has helped to make the Ports Collection such a success over the past 9 years!"

29 of 131 comments (clear)

  1. Let the troll celebrations begin! by discoinferno · · Score: 3, Funny

    Based on the lack of activity in this forum, I think that it is safe to say that BSD users have been driven out by the trolls.... or they are just too busy downloading all those ports to actually come and post here. ;-)

    --
    - It's anarchy baby. Suck it up.
  2. BSD Support by GeXX · · Score: 5, Funny

    Naa, we've already updated our Ports for this morning. Both Source & Programs.

    We are at work currentley making money, we don't have the luxory of summer vacation like the linux'ers.

  3. Re:Gentoo has 5000+ by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Different reasons:
    - linux has a much larger developer/user base + gentoo is incredibly hyped
    - a lot of software is written for linux, sometimes it requires patches to make it work on BSD
    - 0-5000 is easier than 5000-10000, just try to find 10000 applications worth porting...
    - gentoo portage started on a moment that much more *nix software existed than when FreeBSD ports started

    And from what I've seen of portage, I have a strong impression that it's not always that well tested...

  4. Uh oh! by dasunt · · Score: 5, Funny

    [ BSDhead #1 ]: Did you hear? FreeBSD has 9000 ports now!

    [ BSDhead #2 ]: Crap! It is too popular! It has hit the mainstream!

    [ BSDhead #1 ]: That's what I was thinking - lets switch to OpenBSD

    1. Re:Uh oh! by Jonathan+the+Nerd · · Score: 3, Funny

      The sad part is that it's true. I used to be one of those people. I thought I was 31337 because I ran FreeBSD while the unwashed masses were running Linux. Luckily, I grew out of that phase. Now I know I'm 31337 because I run Gentoo! (Just kidding! Please don't beat me up!)

      --
      Disclaimer: The opinions expressed are not necessarily my own, as I've not yet had my medication today.
    2. Re:Uh oh! by Groganz · · Score: 5, Insightful

      I like it for its quality and have no interest in switching to another OS for estoric geek value or whatever. I think most serious FreeBSD users are the same.

    3. Re:Uh oh! by amightywind · · Score: 5, Funny

      [ BSDHead #3] Theo is a nazi, NetBSD runs on too many machines. Lets start a fork!

      --
      an ill wind that blows no good
  5. Problems porting by SirGeek · · Score: 5, Interesting
    Not always. Sometimes porting is tough. Right now, I'm the "Non-Linux" release engineeer for Linux HA ( High Availablity Clustering) and I've tested it on FreeBSD 4.7 (going to to upgrade one box to 4.8 and another to 5.1 ) . The only problem is that the tool chain requires versions that are NOT the standard ported versions (Automake and autoconf if my memory serves me right).

    I want to get things working right so that I can release a Port version of Heartbeat but currently I cannot. Luckily it, by design, builds on FreeBSD and puts things into /usr/local/.../ and not /usr/... like on Linux.

    This may be a factor why things aren't quite right (different versions of Automake/Conf/lib) .

    --
    UPS Sucks
    1. Re:Problems porting by rainer_d · · Score: 4, Interesting
      The only problem is that the tool chain requires versions that are NOT the standard ported versions (Automake and autoconf if my memory serves me right).

      FreeBSD doesn't come with autoconf/make at all (and bsd-make instead of gmake).These are in the ports-tree and there are even different versions for the first two.
      I'm not a toolchain expert, but you might want to look into this.

      Also, one reason why autoconf/automake sometimes break on FreeBSD is the fact that people hard-code certain Linux-isms into their config-files that subsequently fall over when run under FreeBSD...

      --
      Windows 2000 - from the guys who brought us edlin
    2. Re:Problems porting by rainer_d · · Score: 4, Informative
      Having gone to FreeBSD.org and looked at the ports, it looks like they've updated them finally so that I'll be able to get the Linux-HA FreeBSD Port completed.

      You can also go to Freshports where you can get a nice view of the cvs-commits to the ports-tree.
      Have you tried contacting the maintainer for the relevant autoconf/automake port with your problems in the past ?

      cheers,
      Rainer

      --
      Windows 2000 - from the guys who brought us edlin
  6. Just another reason to love FreeBSD by blate · · Score: 5, Informative

    I've been a FreeBSD fan for several years now. Had I been smarter when I was younger, I would have been a fan even longer than that :)

    FreeBSD, IMHO, comes pretty darned close to Linux in terms of ease of install and, in many ways, exceeds it in ease of use. Configuration files are where you expect them to be. Utilities are named what you expect them to be named.

    And, to tie into this article, the ports collection provides a wealth of great software. There's no issue as to which flavor of Linux you have... if you're running FreeBSD, the port will generally work on your system, whether you compile it from sources or download the precompiled package from one of the ftp mirrors.

    Kudos to the FreeBSD team for all their hard work and for giving us such a stable, reliable, useful platform to develop and play on.

    1. Re:Just another reason to love FreeBSD by DashEvil · · Score: 3, Insightful

      Yeah, and let me guess, you haven't tried to compile anything on RedHat 9.0 yet? :)

      --
      -If God wanted people to be better than me, he would have made them that way.
    2. Re:Just another reason to love FreeBSD by IamTheRealMike · · Score: 4, Insightful
      And, to tie into this article, the ports collection provides a wealth of great software. There's no issue as to which flavor of Linux you have

      FreeBSD is cool and all, but you could equally say "Debian apt is really great! there's no issue as to which CPU arch you're on, if you're running Debian, there will be packages for you".

      ie, don't overhype ports. Useful yes, something amazing that only FreeBSD has, no.

    3. Re:Just another reason to love FreeBSD by blate · · Score: 4, Informative

      You make a good point... apt and rpm do a nice job, perhaps as good or possibly better than ports.

      One place where ports has an advantage, however, IMHO, is that the "database" of available packages lives on your local filesystem... you don't have to go searching around the web for the package you want, and you don't need a GUI to fetch and install packages.

      Yes, I know, rpm and apt have command-line modes, but I'm not aware of a way to "browse" collections of these types of packages without a GUI. I'm usually more at home in a console window than a clunky, slow X app.

      I guess we're at the point of arguing matters of taste, which is usually fruitless. FreeBSD is a wonderful OS, as is Linux, but it doesn't get as much press. The ports collection is something the FreeBSD team can and should be proud of.

    4. Re:Just another reason to love FreeBSD by naelurec · · Score: 4, Insightful

      Please don't think RPM is even close to apt-get and ports. Nothing quite like trying to install an RPM that *SHOULD* work only to have it complain about tons of dependencies. I like the FreeBSD way much better as it will go fetch the required parts, compile & optmize and be done with it. :)

      The RPM based distros really should go to something like apt-get, ports or portage (gentoo)

    5. Re:Just another reason to love FreeBSD by arturogatti · · Score: 5, Informative

      "One place where ports has an advantage, however, IMHO, is that the "database" of available packages lives on your local filesystem... you don't have to go searching around the web for the package you want, and you don't need a GUI to fetch and install packages."

      With apt (assuming you've run "apt-get update" at least once since the system was installed, and thus have package lists to search) you don't need to go online to search the package database. You can use the "apt-cache search" command for this. Just type, for example, "apt-cache search alsa" to produce a list of all packages containing the word "alsa" in their names or descriptions.

    6. Re:Just another reason to love FreeBSD by Eraser_ · · Score: 5, Interesting

      The "...and be done with it" is what I like about FreeBSD. RedHat is a PITA to get software installed on, but we are forced to use it to get a service contract for this new whizbang filtering software we run for the school district.

      Oh, and rock on rc.conf!

    7. Re:Just another reason to love FreeBSD by Nothinman · · Score: 3, Informative

      There are several console apt front ends that let you browse, search, etc available packages. dselect, aptitude, synaptic, etc.

  7. almost 3 per day by 1nv4d3r · · Score: 4, Interesting

    9000 ports in 9 years is like 2.7 ports a day. That's pretty impressive.

    (not to equate quantity with quality, but still...)

    1. Re:almost 3 per day by satanami69 · · Score: 4, Informative

      Not to take away their thunder, but p5-Unicode-Lite 0.12 counts as a port, so an entire program may have 15 sub-ports. Still, I like it better than Gentoo.

      --
      I really hate Dan Patrick.
    2. Re:almost 3 per day by m0rten · · Score: 5, Informative
      Maybe FreeBSD should add a single file, like /etc/with.conf, where all of those WITH_FOO=yes knobs are listed and which is sourced before each port is build. So portupgrade would respect those, too


      You do know that portupgrade reads the /usr/local/etc/pkgtools.conf file when upgrading, reinstalling, etc ports? This is a excellent place to put your WITH_* knobs. There's even a few examples in the file to get you going..

      Also, I believe they can be put in /etc/make.conf, but then they will be global and will be used for all ports!
    3. Re:almost 3 per day by junics · · Score: 3, Informative

      And accelerating :)
      (Gnu)plot of growth

  8. awesome by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Interesting

    congrats!

    I've learned to appreciate both the version stability and back-patching done by Red Hat, and the wonderful selection of customizable ports offered by FreeBSD.

    However since Red Hat seems to be abandoning the small end of the market, little by little, I find myself recommending and using FreeBSD for most folks, unless they need to admin themselves (red hat is a little easier for those folks).

    Now somebody please just get a port for Berkeley's new XML database in there, and we'll be set! :-)

  9. wow 9000 ports! by fluor2 · · Score: 4, Funny

    thats,
    port #1: port 22 ssh
    port #2: port 21 ftp
    port #1: port 80 http ..
    uh

  10. compaq triflex ide controller by jcgf · · Score: 5, Interesting

    I'm a linux user that has recently given freebsd a try. I must say that I prefer it over linux. The only thing keeping me from switching full time is the lack of support for the triflex ide controller in my laptop (armada 7400). Linux just got it in 2.4.21 (maybe before in some patch somewhere).
    If anyone knows of a driver in development any help would be greatly appreciated.

    Jared

  11. Congradulations Team by kiwirob · · Score: 4, Interesting

    FreeBSD is dead, long live FreeBSD!!!! I've been using FreeBSD as my desktop for the last few years. It hasn't always been easy but it has been enjoyable. Since I started as a FreeBSD user the system has just got better and better. Big thanks to everybody involved in making this milestone possible. Here's looking forwards to the 10,000th port!!1

  12. NetBSD surpasses 9000 ports: by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

    ported to 9000 CPU architectures ;-)

  13. Sweet! by neafevoc · · Score: 4, Funny

    I better get started!

    cd /usr/ports && make install clean ...

  14. Re:Reiser4 Troll by vesamies · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Are you forgetting UFS2. Of course, it's not the most innovative system around, but surely BSD filesystem development exists. I think UFS2 was integrated to FreeBSD a year or two ago? About, NetBSD's LFS, you are correct, it's not for production use. I don't know if anyone is working to get it stabilized, there has been some interest...