Chapter 17. Using USES Macros

USES macros make it easy to declare requirements and settings for a port. They can add dependencies, change building behavior, add metadata to packages, and so on, all by selecting simple, preset values.

Each section in this chapter describes a possible value for USES, along with its possible arguments. Arguments are appended to the value after a colon (:). Multiple arguments are separated by commas (,).

Possible arguments: (none), p7zip, partial

Extract using 7z(1) instead of bsdtar(1) and sets EXTRACT_SUFX=.7z. The p7zip option forces a dependency on the 7z from archivers/p7zip if the one from the base system is not able to extract the files. EXTRACT_SUFX is not changed if the partial option is used, this can be used if the main distribution file does not have a .7z extension.

Possible arguments: (none), 5, 6

Depends on an Ada-capable compiler, and sets CC accordingly. Defaults to use gcc 5 from ports. Use the :_X_ version option to force building with a different version.

Possible arguments: (none), build

Runs autoreconf. It encapsulates the aclocal, autoconf, autoheader, automake, autopoint, and libtoolize commands. Each command applies to ${AUTORECONF_WRKSRC}/configure.ac or its old name, ${AUTORECONF_WRKSRC}/configure.in. If configure.ac defines subdirectories with their own configure.ac using AC_CONFIG_SUBDIRS, autoreconf will recursively update those as well. The :build argument only adds build time dependencies on those tools but does not run autoreconf. A port can set AUTORECONF_WRKSRC if WRKSRC does not contain the path to configure.ac.

Possible arguments: (none), atlas, netlib (default), gotoblas, openblas

Adds dependencies on Blas / Lapack libraries.

Possible arguments: (none), 48, 5 (default), 6

Add dependency on the Berkeley DB library. Default to databases/db5. It can also depend on databases/db48 when using the :48 argument or databases/db6 with :6. It is possible to declare a range of acceptable values, :48+ finds the highest installed version, and falls back to 4.8 if nothing else is installed. INVALID_BDB_VER can be used to specify versions which do not work with this port. The framework exposes the following variables to the port:

Possible arguments: (none), build, run, both

Uses devel/bison By default, with no arguments or with the build argument, it implies bison is a build-time dependency, run implies a run-time dependency, and both implies both run-time and build-time dependencies.

Possible arguments: (none), hpack

Sets default values and targets used to build Haskell software using Cabal. A build dependency on the Haskell compiler port (GHC) is added. If hpack argument is given, a build dependency on devel/hs-hpack is added and hpack is invoked at configuration step to generate. cabal file.

The framework provides the following variables:

Possible arguments: (none)

Uses Cargo for configuring, building, and testing. It can be used to port Rust applications that use the Cargo build system. For more information see Building Rust Applications with cargo.

Possible arguments: (none)

Prevents the port from installing charset.alias. This must be installed only by converters/libiconv. CHARSETFIX_MAKEFILEIN can be set to a path relative to WRKSRC if charset.alias is not installed by ${WRKSRC}/Makefile.in.

Possible arguments: (none), insource, noninja, run, testing

Use CMake for configuring the port and generating a build system.

By default an out-of-source build is performed, leaving the sources in WRKSRC free from build artifacts. With the insource argument, an in-source build will be performed instead. This argument should be an exception, used only when a regular out-of-source build does not work.

By default Ninja (devel/ninja) is used for the build. In some cases this does not work correctly. With the noninja argument, the build will use regular make for builds. This argument should only be used if a Ninja-based build does not work.

With the run argument, a run dependency is registered in addition to a build dependency.

With the testing argument, a test-target is added that uses CTest. When running tests the port will be re-configured for testing and re-built.

For more information see Using cmake.

Possible arguments: (none), env (default, implicit), {c-plus-plus}17-lang, {c-plus-plus}14-lang, {c-plus-plus}11-lang, gcc-{c-plus-plus}11-lib, {c-plus-plus}11-lib, {c-plus-plus}0x, c11, nestedfct, features

Determines which compiler to use based on any given wishes. Use {c-plus-plus}17-lang if the port needs a {c-plus-plus}17-capable compiler, {c-plus-plus}14-lang if the port needs a {c-plus-plus}14-capable compiler, {c-plus-plus}11-lang if the port needs a {c-plus-plus}11-capable compiler, gcc-{c-plus-plus}11-lib if the port needs the g++ compiler with a {c-plus-plus}11 library, or {c-plus-plus}11-lib if the port needs a {c-plus-plus}11-ready standard library. If the port needs a compiler understanding {c-plus-plus}0X, C11 or nested functions, the corresponding parameters should be used.

Use features to request a list of features supported by the default compiler. After including bsd.port.pre.mk the port can inspect the results using these variables:

Possible arguments: (none)

Include Common Platform Enumeration (CPE) information in package manifest as a CPE 2.3 formatted string. See the CPE specification for details. To add CPE information to a port, follow these steps:

Possible arguments: (none), auto-plist, compiles

Uses the Comprehensive R Archive Network. Specify auto-plist to automatically generate pkg-plist. Specify compiles if the port has code that need to be compiled.

Possible arguments: (none)

Uses update-desktop-database from devel/desktop-file-utils. An extra post-install step will be run without interfering with any post-install steps already in the port Makefile. A line with @desktop-file-utils will be added to the plist.

Possible arguments: (none)

Changes the behavior of GNU configure to properly support DESTDIR in case the original software does not.

Possible arguments: (none), ARGS

Set up a virtual display environment. If the environment variable DISPLAY is not set, then Xvfb is added as a build dependency, and CONFIGURE_ENV is extended with the port number of the currently running instance of Xvfb. The ARGS parameter defaults to install and controls the phase around which to start and stop the virtual display.

Possible arguments: (none)

The port has files with line endings in DOS format which need to be converted. Several variables can be set to control which files will be converted. The default is to convert all files, including binaries. See Simple Automatic Replacements for examples.

Possible arguments: 7, module, theme

Automate installation of a port that is a Drupal theme or module. Use with the version of Drupal that the port is expecting. For example, USES=drupal:7,module says that this port creates a Drupal 6 module. A Drupal 7 theme can be specified with USES=drupal:7,theme.

Possible arguments: 2, 3, build (default), run

Add dependency on math/eigen.

Possible arguments: (none)

Changes some default behavior of build systems to allow installing as a user. See https://wiki.debian.org/FakeRoot for more information on fakeroot.

Possible arguments: (none), fam, gamin

Uses a File Alteration Monitor as a library dependency, either devel/fam or devel/gamin. End users can set WITH_FAM_SYSTEM to specify their preference.

Possible arguments: (none), 25

Add a dependency to the client library of the Firebird database.

Possible arguments: (none), fc, fcfontsdir (default), fontsdir, none

Adds a runtime dependency on tools needed to register fonts. Depending on the argument, add a @fc ${FONTSDIR} line, @fcfontsdir ${FONTSDIR} line, @fontsdir ${FONTSDIR} line, or no line if the argument is none, to the plist. FONTSDIR defaults to ${PREFIX}/share/fonts/${FONTNAME} and FONTNAME to ${PORTNAME}. Add FONTSDIR to PLIST_SUB and SUB_LIST

Possible arguments: gcc (default)

Uses the GNU Fortran compiler.

Possible arguments: 2 (default), 3

The port will depend on the FUSE library and handle the dependency on the kernel module depending on the version of FreeBSD.

Possible arguments: (none), noautoplist

Handle building with RubyGems. If noautoplist is used, the packing list is not generated automatically.

Possible arguments: (none)

Deprecated. Will include both gettext-runtime and gettext-tools.

Possible arguments: (none), lib (default), build, run

Uses devel/gettext-runtime. By default, with no arguments or with the lib argument, implies a library dependency on libintl.so. build and run implies, respectively a build-time and a run-time dependency on gettext.

Possible arguments: (none), build (default), run

Uses devel/gettext-tools. By default, with no argument, or with the build argument, a build time dependency on msgfmt is registered. With the run argument, a run-time dependency is registered.

Possible arguments: X, build, run, nox11

A specific version X can be used. Possible versions are 7, 8, 9, and agpl (default). nox11 indicates that the -nox11 version of the port is required. build and run add build- and run-time dependencies on Ghostscript. The default is both build- and run-time dependencies.

Possible arguments: (none)

Provides an easy way to depend on GL components. The components should be listed in USE_GL. The available components are:

Possible arguments: (none)

Uses devel/gmake as a build-time dependency and sets up the environment to use gmake as the default make for the build.

Possible arguments: (none)

Provides an easy way to depend on GNOME components. The components should be listed in USE_GNOME. The available components are:

The default dependency is build- and run-time, it can be changed with :build or :run. For example:

See Using GNOME for more information.

Possible arguments: (none), modules, no_targets, run

Sets default values and targets used to build Go software. A build dependency on the Go compiler port selected via GO_PORT is added. By default the build is performed in GOPATH mode. If Go software uses modules, the modules-aware mode can be switched on with modules argument. no_targets will setup build environment like GO_ENV, GO_BUILDFLAGS but skip creating post-extract and do-{build,install,test} targets. run will also add a run dependency on what is in GO_PORT.

The build process is controlled by several variables:

See Building Go Applications for usage examples.

Possible arguments: (none)

Add a buildtime dependency on devel/gperf if gperf is not present in the base system.

Possible arguments: 5, selfbuild

Handle dependency on Grantlee. Specify 5 to depend on the Qt5 based version, devel/grantlee5. selfbuild is used internally by devel/grantlee5 to get their versions numbers.

Possible arguments: build, run, both

Registers a dependency on textproc/groff if not present in the base system.

Possible arguments: (none), base (default), heimdal, mit, flags, bootstrap

Handle dependencies needed by consumers of the GSS-API. Only libraries that provide the Kerberos mechanism are available. By default, or set to base, the GSS-API library from the base system is used. Can also be set to heimdal to use security/heimdal, or mit to use security/krb5.

When the local Kerberos installation is not in LOCALBASE, set HEIMDAL_HOME (for heimdal) or KRB5_HOME (for krb5) to the location of the Kerberos installation.

These variables are exported for the ports to use:

The flags option can be given alongside base, heimdal, or mit to automatically add GSSAPICPPFLAGS, GSSAPILDFLAGS, and GSSAPILIBS to CFLAGS, LDFLAGS, and LDADD, respectively. For example, use base,flags.

The bootstrap option is a special prefix only for use by security/krb5 and security/heimdal. For example, use bootstrap,mit.

Possible arguments: (none)

Add buildtime and runtime dependencies on devel/pear-channel-horde. Other Horde dependencies can be added with USE_HORDE_BUILD and USE_HORDE_RUN. See Horde Modules for more information.

Possible arguments: (none), lib, build, patch, translit, wchar_t

Uses iconv functions, either from the port converters/libiconv as a build-time and run-time dependency, or from the base system. By default, with no arguments or with the lib argument, implies iconv with build-time and run-time dependencies. build implies a build-time dependency, and patch implies a patch-time dependency. If the port uses the WCHAR_T or //TRANSLIT iconv extensions, add the relevant arguments so that the correct iconv is used. For more information see Using iconv.

Possible arguments: (none), env, notall, noman

Add devel/imake as a build-time dependency and run xmkmf -a during the configure stage. If the env argument is given, the configure target is not set. If the -a flag is a problem for the port, add the notall argument. If xmkmf does not generate a install.man target, add the noman argument.

Possible arguments: 5

Add dependency on KDE components. See Using KDE for more information.

Possible arguments: (none), debug

Fills in the boilerplate for kernel module ports, currently:

Possible arguments: (none)

Set EXTRACT_SUFX to .lzh

Possible arguments: (none)

Registers a dependency on archivers/libarchive. Any ports depending on libarchive must include USES=libarchive.

Possible arguments: (none)

Registers a dependency on devel/libedit. Any ports depending on libedit must include USES=libedit.

Possible arguments: (none), keepla, build

Patches libtool scripts. This must be added to all ports that use libtool. The keepla argument can be used to keep .la files. Some ports do not ship with their own copy of libtool and need a build time dependency on devel/libtool, use the :build argument to add such dependency.

Possible arguments: c6, c7

Ports Linux compatibility framework. Specify c6 to depend on CentOS 6 packags. Specify c7 to depend on CentOS 7 packages. The available packages are:

Possible arguments: (none), ldflags

Ensures that libraries from dependencies in LOCALBASE are used instead of the ones from the base system. Specify ldflags to add -L${LOCALBASE}/lib to LDFLAGS instead of LIBS. Ports that depend on libraries that are also present in the base system should use this. It is also used internally by a few other USES.

Possible arguments: (none), XY, XY+, -XY, XY-ZA, module, flavors, build, run, env

Adds a dependency on Lua. By default this is a library dependency, unless overridden by the build and/or run option. The env option prevents the addition of any dependency, while still defining all the usual variables.

The default version is set by the usual DEFAULT_VERSIONS mechanism, unless a version or range of versions is specified as an argument, for example, 51 or 51-53.

Applications using Lua are normally built for only a single Lua version. However, library modules intended to be loaded by Lua code should use the module option to build with multiple flavors.

For more information see Using Lua.

Possible arguments: (none)

Handle dependencies for the LXQt Desktop Environment. Use USE_LXQT to select the components needed for the port. See Using LXQt for more information.

Possible arguments: (none)

Add a build-time dependency on makeinfo if it is not present in the base system.

Possible arguments: (none)

Indicates that the distribution files are makeself archives and sets the appropriate dependencies.

Possible arguments: (none)

Provides an easy way to depend on MATE components. The components should be listed in USE_MATE. The available components are:

The default dependency is build- and run-time, it can be changed with :build or :run. For example:

Possible arguments: (none)

Provide support for Meson based projects. For more information see Using meson.

Possible arguments: (none)

Sets the following variables to make it easier to create a metaport: MASTER_SITES, DISTFILES, EXTRACT_ONLY, NO_BUILD, NO_INSTALL, NO_MTREE, NO_ARCH.

Possible arguments: (none), version, client (default), server, embedded

Provide support for MySQL If no version is given, try to find the current installed version. Fall back to the default version, MySQL-5.6. The possible versions are 55, 55m, 55p, 56, 56p, 56w, 57, 57p, 80, 100m, 101m, and 102m. The m and p suffixes are for the MariaDB and Percona variants of MySQL. server and embedded add a build- and run-time dependency on the MySQL server. When using server or embedded, add client to also add a dependency on libmysqlclient.so. A port can set IGNORE_WITH_MYSQL if some versions are not supported.

The framework sets MYSQL_VER to the detected MySQL version.

Possible arguments: (none), nuget

Adds a dependency on the Mono (currently only C#) framework by setting the appropriate dependencies.

Specify nuget when the port uses nuget packages. NUGET_DEPENDS needs to be set with the names and versions of the nuget packages in the format name=version. An optional package origin can be added using name=version:_origin_.

The helper target, buildnuget, will output the content of the NUGET_DEPENDS based on the provided packages.config.

Possible arguments: (none)

Uses x11-toolkits/open-motif as a library dependency. End users can set WANT_LESSTIF for the dependency to be on x11-toolkits/lesstif instead of x11-toolkits/open-motif.

Possible arguments: (none), base, port

Uses ncurses, and causes some useful variables to be set.

Possible arguments: (none)

Uses ninja to build the port.

Possible arguments: (none)

Add objective C dependencies (compiler, runtime library) if the base system does not support it.

Possible arguments: al, soft (default), si, alut

Uses OpenAL. The backend can be specified, with the software implementation as the default. The user can specify a preferred backend with WANT_OPENAL. Valid values for this knob are soft (default) and si.

Possible arguments: (none)

Look for Makefile.in and configure in PATHFIX_WRKSRC (defaults to WRKSRC) and fix common paths to make sure they respect the FreeBSD hierarchy. For example, it fixes the installation directory of pkgconfig’s .pc files to ${PREFIX}/libdata/pkgconfig. If the port uses `USES=autoreconf, Makefile.am will be added to PATHFIX_MAKEFILEIN automatically.

If the port USES=cmake it will look for CMakeLists.txt in PATHFIX_WRKSRC. If needed, that default filename can be changed with PATHFIX_CMAKELISTSTXT.

Possible arguments: env

Adds a dependency on devel/pear. It will setup default behavior for software using the PHP Extension and Application Repository. Using the env arguments only sets up the PEAR environment variables. See PEAR Modules for more information.

Possible arguments: (none)

Depends on Perl. The configuration is done using USE_PERL5.

USE_PERL5 can contain the phases in which to use Perl, can be extract, patch, build, run, or test.

USE_PERL5 can also contain configure, modbuild, or modbuildtiny when Makefile.PL, Build.PL, or Module::Build::Tiny’s flavor of Build.PL is required.

USE_PERL5 defaults to build run. When using configure, modbuild, or modbuildtiny, build and run are implied.

See Using Perl for more information.

Possible arguments: (none), X.Y, X.Y+, X.Y-, X.Y-Z.A

Provide support for PostgreSQL. Port maintainer can set version required. Minimum and maximum versions or a range can be specified; for example, 9.0-, 8.4+, 8.4-9.2.

By default, the added dependency will be the client, but if the port requires additional components, this can be done using WANT_PGSQL=component[:target]; for example, WANT_PGSQL=server:configure pltcl plperl. The available components are:

Possible arguments: (none), phpize, ext, zend, build, cli, cgi, mod, web, embed, pecl, flavors, noflavors

Provide support for PHP. Add a runtime dependency on the default PHP version, lang/php56.

Variables are used to specify which PHP modules are required, as well as which version of PHP are supported.

When building a PHP or Zend extension with :ext or :zend, these variables can be set:

These variables are available to use in PKGNAMEPREFIX or PKGNAMESUFFIX:

Possible arguments: (none), build (default), run, both

Uses devel/pkgconf. With no arguments or with the build argument, it implies pkg-config as a build-time dependency. run implies a run-time dependency and both implies both run-time and build-time dependencies.

Possible arguments: (none), ffi

Uses lang/pure. Largely used for building related pure ports. With the ffi argument, it implies devel/pure-ffi as a run-time dependency.

Possible arguments: (none), 4, 5

Uses PyQt. If the port is part of PyQT itself, set PYQT_DIST. Use USE_PYQT to select the components the port needs. The available components are:

These components are only available with PyQT4:

These components are only available with PyQT5:

The default dependency for each component is build- and run-time, to select only build or run, add _build or _run to the component name. For example:

Possible arguments: (none), X.Y, X.Y+, -X.Y, X.Y-Z.A, patch, build, run, test

Uses Python. A supported version or version range can be specified. If Python is only needed at build time, run time or for the tests, it can be set as a build, run or test dependency with build, run, or test. If Python is also needed during the patch phase, use patch. See Using Python for more information.

PYTHON_NO_DEPENDS=yes can be used when the variables exported by the framework are needed but a dependency on Python is not. It can happen when using with USES=shebangfix, and the goal is only to fix the shebangs but not add a dependency on Python.

Possible arguments: (none), build, run, both, vars

Uses mail/qmail. With the build argument, it implies qmail as a build-time dependency. run implies a run-time dependency. Using no argument or the both argument implies both run-time and build-time dependencies. vars will only set QMAIL variables for the port to use.

Possible arguments: (none), norecursive, outsource, no_env, no_configure

Uses QMake for configuring. For more information see Using qmake.

Possible arguments: 5, no_env

Add dependency on Qt components. no_env is passed directly to USES= qmake. See Using Qt for more information.

Possible arguments: (none) or 5 and (none) or one of 3d, activeqt, androidextras, base, canvas3d, charts, connectivity, datavis3d, declarative, doc, gamepad, graphicaleffects, imageformats, location, macextras, multimedia, networkauth, purchasing, quickcontrols2, quickcontrols, remoteobjects, script, scxml, sensors, serialbus, serialport, speech, svg, tools, translations, virtualkeyboard, wayland, webchannel, webengine, websockets, webview, winextras, x11extras, xmlpatterns

Provides support for building Qt 5 components. It takes care of setting up the appropriate configuration environment for the port to build.

If PORTNAME does not match the component name, it can be passed as an argument to qt-dist.

Possible arguments: (none), port

Uses readline as a library dependency, and sets CPPFLAGS and LDFLAGS as necessary. If the port argument is used or if readline is not present in the base system, add a dependency on devel/readline

Possible arguments: build, env, lib, run

Handle dependency on Samba. env will not add any dependency and only set up the variables. build and run will add build-time and run-time dependency on smbd. lib will add a dependency on libsmbclient.so. The variables that are exported are:

Possible arguments: (none)

Provide support for the use of devel/scons. See Using scons for more information.

Possible arguments: (none)

Uses update-mime-database from misc/shared-mime-info. This uses will automatically add a post-install step in such a way that the port itself still can specify there own post-install step if needed. It also add an @shared-mime-info entry to the plist.

Possible arguments: (none)

A lot of software uses incorrect locations for script interpreters, most notably /usr/bin/perl and /bin/bash. The shebangfix macro fixes shebang lines in scripts listed in SHEBANG_REGEX, SHEBANG_GLOB, or SHEBANG_FILES.

Currently Bash, Java, Ksh, Lua, Perl, PHP, Python, Ruby, Tcl, and Tk are supported by default.

There are three configuration variables:

Possible arguments: (none), 2, 3

Add a dependency on SQLite. The default version used is 3, but version 2 is also possible using the :2 modifier.

Possible arguments: (none), build, run

Provide support for OpenSSL. A build- or run-time only dependency can be specified using build or run. These variables are available for the port’s use, they are also added to MAKE_ENV:

Possible arguments: (none), Z, bz2, bzip2, lzma, tbz, tbz2, tgz, txz, xz

Set EXTRACT_SUFX to .tar, .tar.Z, .tar.bz2, .tar.bz2, .tar.lzma, .tbz, .tbz2, .tgz, .txz or .tar.xz respectively.

Possible arguments: version, wrapper, build, run, tea

Add a dependency on Tcl. A specific version can be requested using version. The version can be empty, one or more exact version numbers (currently 84, 85, or 86), or a minimal version number (currently 84+, 85+ or 86+). To only request a non version specific wrapper, use wrapper. A build- or run-time only dependency can be specified using build or run. To build the port using the Tcl Extension Architecture, use tea. After including bsd.port.pre.mk the port can inspect the results using these variables:

Possible arguments: (none)

Adds @terminfo to the plist. Use when the port installs *.terminfo files in ${PREFIX}/share/misc.

Same as arguments for tcl

Small wrapper when using both Tcl and Tk. The same variables are returned as when using Tcl.

Possible arguments: (none)

Changes some default behavior (mostly variables) of the build system to allow installing this port as a normal user. Try this in the port before using USES=fakeroot or patching.

Possible arguments: (none), dirs

Make files or directories 'unique', by adding a prefix or suffix. If the dirs argument is used, the port needs a prefix (and only a prefix) based on UNIQUE_PREFIX for standard directories DOCSDIR, EXAMPLESDIR, DATADIR, WWWDIR, ETCDIR. These variables are available for ports:

Possible arguments: 4, 6

Handle dependencies on Varnish Cache. 4 will add a dependency on www/varnish4. 6 will add a dependency on www/varnish6.

Possible arguments: (none), ARGS

Automatically create and remove symbolic links for each application that supports the webplugin framework. ARGS can be one of:

These variables can be adjusted:

Possible arguments: (none), gtk2

Provide support for Xfce related ports. See Using Xfce for details.

The gtk2 argument specifies that the port requires GTK2 support. It adds additional features provided by some core components, for example, x11/libxfce4menu and x11-wm/xfce4-panel.

Possible arguments: (none)

Provides an easy way to depend on X.org components. The components should be listed in USE_XORG. The available components are:

Possible arguments: app, data, doc, driver, font, lib, proto, util, xserver and (none) or one off autotools (default), meson

Provide support for building Xorg components. It takes care of setting up common dependencies and an appropriate configuration environment needed. This is intended only for Xorg components.

The category has to match upstream categories.

The second argument is the build system to use. autotools is the default, but meson is also supported.

Possible arguments: (none), infozip

Indicates that the distribution files use the ZIP compression algorithm. For files using the InfoZip algorithm the infozip argument must be passed to set the appropriate dependencies.