Date: Thu, 19 May 2011 22:06:36 -0400 From: Alejandro Imass <ait@p2ee.org> To: Xn Nooby <xnooby@gmail.com> Cc: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org Subject: Re: Over-whelmed by ports and package tools Message-ID: <BANLkTimAx3BJ63aRCkAZQsrWvUrg5HfBGg@mail.gmail.com> In-Reply-To: <BANLkTi=tVL3BR%2BVrp6MBWc4t%2BNOsQCGzrw@mail.gmail.com> References: <BANLkTi=tVL3BR%2BVrp6MBWc4t%2BNOsQCGzrw@mail.gmail.com>
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On Thu, May 19, 2011 at 9:23 PM, Xn Nooby <xnooby@gmail.com> wrote: > It is hard for me to tell what tools I should be using to work with > ports and packages. =A0I was trying to set up a 64bit 8.2 machine as a > desktop environment, with Firefox 4 and Flash installed. =A0It looked > like I was going to need to track the 8.x stable branch in order to > get a Firefox package, and I was having some problems pinning down > which version of Flash I should use (they have a new version since 8l2 Great question. The is no best prctice as such and it mostly depends on your use of FreeBSD. If it's a workstation you probably want to install most things via binary packages instead of ports. FreeBSD is so amazing that it does not matter which way you install them, the pkg database will not care. You can add a package and the remove by port and vice-versa. cvsup and all that is mostly used nowadays by mere mortals for building the world and upgrading. if you are going to use FreeBSD as a server you arel probably be better off compiling everything to your exact needs. Precompiled binary packages are built with standard default options: i.e. probably either over-bloated with unnecessary features and security holes, or other times lack the functionality you will require. I would personally never compile Gnome, Open Office and these great big packages for several reasons but primarily because it's a waste of time, and the default compilation options are usually good for the average use. Also, please take a look at PC BSD which derives directly from FreeBSD but it's targeted for the PC/Workstation/laptop world. It's somewhat akin to Ubuntu and Debian. I think PC BSD is great for workstation use whereas FreeBSD is great for servers. I use FreeBSD for both but use binary packages for the big fat GUI applications and compile everything else. Best, -- Alejandro Imass
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