Date: Sun, 31 May 2020 03:38:52 +0200 From: Polytropon <freebsd@edvax.de> To: Brandon helsley <brandon.helsley@hotmail.com> Cc: Matthew Seaman <matthew@freebsd.org>, "freebsd-questions@freebsd.org" <freebsd-questions@freebsd.org> Subject: Re: FreeBSD Cert Message-ID: <20200531033852.9c345a6b.freebsd@edvax.de> In-Reply-To: <CY4PR19MB0104BA01C861C5788EFB7D12F98C0@CY4PR19MB0104.namprd19.prod.outlook.com> References: <CY4PR19MB165585A7D4670DC49DB5523AF9B10@CY4PR19MB1655.namprd19.prod.outlook.com> <626d9ab4-b00b-6112-8697-ea972eceb5b2@heuristicsystems.com.au> <CY4PR19MB0104A96DFD1E7341E18A65D4F98C0@CY4PR19MB0104.namprd19.prod.outlook.com> <8696720e-3c03-8ffa-6b2c-4c4c98772a49@FreeBSD.org> <CY4PR19MB0104E969DF526271C147614AF98C0@CY4PR19MB0104.namprd19.prod.outlook.com> <CY4PR19MB01048E1DAB5926767102192CF98C0@CY4PR19MB0104.namprd19.prod.outlook.com> <20200531005421.8f845320.freebsd@edvax.de> <CY4PR19MB0104BA01C861C5788EFB7D12F98C0@CY4PR19MB0104.namprd19.prod.outlook.com>
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On Sat, 30 May 2020 23:03:59 +0000, Brandon helsley wrote: > So to find out the legality of licensing to port a program to > freebsd do all I have to do is contact that programs website. That is the first step to go. For most open source programs, it should not be a big problem to make them available as a FreeBSD port when a Linux version already exists. However, contacting the original author(s) is probably the best thing you can do. In absolutely worst case, you can always contact a legal counsel, if that should be needed. > And then source code is quite easy to obtain I see. Depends. Some projects have their own website where they also publish source code, others use external services like GitHub. I'm also sure there are at least a few which use different services, like their own SVN server or something like that. In certain cases, _no_ source code is distributed (for example the nVidia graphics driver published by nVidia is just a binary blob, embedded as a port, so building the port does not compile anything, instead it just creates a package from an existing set of binary files). > It would just be on git hub right. At least today, that would surely be the most common way. > For the executable script and profiles and config files l, > I guessing the porters handbook is how you fashion those > in working order? Correct. Understand a port as a "cooking recipe" that describes where to obtain program sources from, how to patch them, how to build them, and where to install the results to. That kind of "recipe" is standardized - it's more or less the same approach for all ports. The result of following that "recipe" usually is a package that can be installed with pkg (and "make install" does exactly that). Note that there are a few ports where the licensing terms do not allow distribution in binary form - such ports cannot be installed via "pkg install", instead you always have to build them from source. This aspect is alco controlled by the "recipe". The FreeBSD Porter's Handbook provides an excellent foundation on how all those things work, from file description, their meaning and content, which tools and procedures, up to how the results of building a port are structured. So I'd suggest that reading this specific piece of documentation is essential for anyone who wants to become a port maintainer. You simply cannot get it working without it. :-) -- Polytropon Magdeburg, Germany Happy FreeBSD user since 4.0 Andra moi ennepe, Mousa, ...
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