From owner-freebsd-questions@freebsd.org Tue Dec 8 12:39:23 2015 Return-Path: Delivered-To: freebsd-questions@mailman.ysv.freebsd.org Received: from mx1.freebsd.org (mx1.freebsd.org [IPv6:2001:1900:2254:206a::19:1]) by mailman.ysv.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id 571669B7026 for ; Tue, 8 Dec 2015 12:39:23 +0000 (UTC) (envelope-from welcome.to.eye.o.rama@gmail.com) Received: from mail-qk0-x229.google.com (mail-qk0-x229.google.com [IPv6:2607:f8b0:400d:c09::229]) (using TLSv1.2 with cipher ECDHE-RSA-AES128-GCM-SHA256 (128/128 bits)) (Client CN "smtp.gmail.com", Issuer "Google Internet Authority G2" (verified OK)) by mx1.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTPS id 168BD1310 for ; Tue, 8 Dec 2015 12:39:23 +0000 (UTC) (envelope-from welcome.to.eye.o.rama@gmail.com) Received: by qkdp187 with SMTP id p187so26355024qkd.1 for ; Tue, 08 Dec 2015 04:39:22 -0800 (PST) DKIM-Signature: v=1; a=rsa-sha256; c=relaxed/relaxed; d=gmail.com; s=20120113; h=subject:mime-version:content-type:from:in-reply-to:date:cc :content-transfer-encoding:message-id:references:to; bh=Gc1mYIgYY01IEdPRddbkR+OTukDf4JyNJWVbs0bl1XQ=; b=SxlcbztR5Yh5makupEWk/aGvDrZ0NiaZPHmYo387bPsBKUwebf3DBhvuzqIXWScqm+ SzMrvf+TAWfuHr5Svl0dUp1MVvlbnJI8iUeQuUXU4IyOOblwA9tVCjLruv/A5MEsAOe9 +YqaCw75a2c+NYfHokkIyVByiX6sfGyKsUpXeim2gOlRudSURKDmGHXMpgLoGqlamqpe MqzYao4wZrQRay3YR6jG4rlO0tc6BUti0Vg2Z1GZC1spqRRvE1rJkFiq4/luwoTpJnI+ w1cjBpiuYPIDdZdKU+FgKnejWnFfdXzFudtlfYqc88N1AKRyX1UaNkX36wELWMULGLZW 9hBg== X-Received: by 10.13.197.198 with SMTP id h189mr1685667ywd.254.1449578362208; Tue, 08 Dec 2015 04:39:22 -0800 (PST) Received: from ?IPv6:2602:30a:2c86:1740:3615:9eff:fe1f:8316? ([2602:30a:2c86:1740:3615:9eff:fe1f:8316]) by smtp.gmail.com with ESMTPSA id v23sm2035331ywa.30.2015.12.08.04.39.21 (version=TLS1 cipher=ECDHE-RSA-AES128-SHA bits=128/128); Tue, 08 Dec 2015 04:39:21 -0800 (PST) Subject: Re: Migrating to FreeBSD from Debian Mime-Version: 1.0 (Apple Message framework v1085) Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii From: John Aten In-Reply-To: <86lh951m31.fsf@WorkBox.Home> Date: Tue, 8 Dec 2015 06:39:09 -0600 Cc: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Message-Id: References: <86io4a6l2w.fsf@WorkBox.Home> <86lh951m31.fsf@WorkBox.Home> To: Brandon J. Wandersee X-Mailer: Apple Mail (2.1085) X-BeenThere: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org X-Mailman-Version: 2.1.20 Precedence: list List-Id: User questions List-Unsubscribe: , List-Archive: List-Post: List-Help: List-Subscribe: , X-List-Received-Date: Tue, 08 Dec 2015 12:39:23 -0000 On Dec 8, 2015, at 12:38 AM, Brandon J. Wandersee wrote: > > 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. That's pretty much what I have been doing; sounds intuitive.