Pkgsrc

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The correct title of this article is pkgsrc. The initial letter is shown capitalized due to technical restrictions.

pkgsrc (package source) is a package management system for Unix-like operating systems. It is used as the primary package management system on NetBSD, from where it also originates, and DragonFly BSD.

[edit] History

pkgsrc started in 1997 as a fork of the FreeBSD Ports Collection adapted for NetBSD. Since then it has evolved independently. In 1999, support for Solaris was added, and support for many more operating systems followed later.

[edit] Description

pkgsrc can be used in two different ways. The first is to only use the binary packages, which can be installed and deinstalled using simple command line tools. The second is to build packages from source, where the user can provide additional build options to enable or disable certain features of the packages. By default the packages are all installed in the /usr/pkg directory, regardless of the operating system. When building from source, the user can install the packages to any other location in the filesystem, too. This allows pkgsrc to be used as a secondary package system on platforms that lack a good primary one.

pkgsrc currently contains over 6000 packages, including popular open source software such as the Apache HTTP Server, the Mozilla web browser, the GNOME Desktop Environment and the K Desktop Environment.

pkgsrc supports the following operating systems: