Date: Tue, 08 Dec 2015 00:38:42 -0600 From: Brandon J. Wandersee <brandon.wandersee@gmail.com> To: John Aten <welcome.to.eye.o.rama@gmail.com> Cc: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org Subject: Re: Migrating to FreeBSD from Debian Message-ID: <86lh951m31.fsf@WorkBox.Home> In-Reply-To: <D91EEB69-5416-46A4-A420-49E9AB92E910@gmail.com> References: <CAO-kBwffucnPVphm_ajbtAejjFiAv_Cp%2Bv7jZ-xCTX7YTqk36w@mail.gmail.com> <86io4a6l2w.fsf@WorkBox.Home> <D91EEB69-5416-46A4-A420-49E9AB92E910@gmail.com>
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John Aten writes:
> I am coming from Debian also, and I was initially intimidated by
> ports. I still am, but I the more I think about it, the more I favor
> the idea of ports over packages. One source of confusion is the all
> the options one is faced with when installing from ports; I don't know
> exactly where to look for documentation on what would be better/worse
> to select and why. Is this a matter of checking with the documentation
> of the program to be installed? Or is there FreeBSD specific
> information on this somewhere?
It might be worthwhile check the application documentation, but the port
options are presented as an interactive checklist for each port, with
each option briefly described. If it seems overwhelming at first, just
know that while quite a few ports have some esoteric options, many
build-time options are for features or functionality you would use
directly, like choosing which codecs a music player should support or
whether an application should include a GUI. Generally, the first time I
build a port I exclude what I know I don't need, include what I do, and
leave anything I don't understand alone.
--
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:: Brandon Wandersee ::
:: brandon.wandersee@gmail.com ::
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