FreeBSD's list of available applications is growing all the time. There are a number of ways to find software to install:
The FreeBSD web site maintains an up-to-date searchable list of all the available applications, at http://www.FreeBSD.org/ports/. The ports can be searched by application name or by software category.
Dan Langille maintains FreshPorts.org which provides a comprehensive search utility and also tracks changes to the applications in the Ports Collection. Registered users can create a customized watch list in order to receive an automated email when their watched ports are updated.
If you do not know the name of an application, try using a site like Freecode.com to find an application, then check back at the FreeBSD site to see if the application has been ported yet.
If the Ports Collection is already installed, there are
several methods to query the local version of the ports
tree. To find out which category a port is in, type
whereis file
,
where file
is the program to be
installed:
#
whereis lsof
lsof: /usr/ports/sysutils/lsof
Alternately, an echo(1) statement can be used:
#
echo /usr/ports/*/*lsof*
/usr/ports/sysutils/lsof
Note that this will also return any matched files
downloaded into the /usr/ports/distfiles
directory.
Another way to find software is by using the Ports
Collection's built-in search mechanism. To use the search
feature, cd to /usr/ports
then run
make search
name=program-name
where program-name
is the name
of the software. For example, to search for
lsof
:
#
cd /usr/ports
#
make search name=lsof
Port: lsof-4.88.d,8 Path: /usr/ports/sysutils/lsof Info: Lists information about open files (similar to fstat(1)) Maint: ler@lerctr.org Index: sysutils B-deps: R-deps:
The built-in search mechanism uses a file
of index information. If a message indicates that the
INDEX
is required, run
make fetchindex
to download the current
index file. With the INDEX
present,
make search
will be able to perform the
requested search.
The “Path:” line indicates where to find the port.
To receive less information, use the
quicksearch
feature:
#
cd /usr/ports
#
make quicksearch name=lsof
Port: lsof-4.88.d,8 Path: /usr/ports/sysutils/lsof Info: Lists information about open files (similar to fstat(1))
For more in-depth searching, use
make search
key=string
or
make quicksearch
key=string
, where
string
is some text to search
for. The text can be in comments, descriptions, or
dependencies in order to find ports which relate to a
particular subject when the name of the program is
unknown.
When using search
or
quicksearch
, the search string
is case-insensitive. Searching for “LSOF” will
yield the same results as searching for
“lsof”.
All FreeBSD documents are available for download at http://ftp.FreeBSD.org/pub/FreeBSD/doc/
Questions that are not answered by the
documentation may be
sent to <freebsd-questions@FreeBSD.org>.
Send questions about this document to <freebsd-doc@FreeBSD.org>.