# get PORTS collection for specific RELENG



## fefaya (Sep 30, 2011)

From http://www.freebsd.org/doc/handbook/cvsup.html#CVSUP-CONFIG-VERS



> Keep in mind that only the tag=. is relevant for the Ports Collection.



We can't use cvsup to get ports collection for some specific RELENG.
portsnap also can't do this.

IS there some way to do this job?

Thanks


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## gkontos (Sep 30, 2011)

portsnap(8) will do this for you:

```
hp# ll INDEX-*
-rw-r--r--  1 root  wheel  22891253 Sep 28 13:12 INDEX-6
-rw-r--r--  1 root  wheel  24370755 Sep 29 14:15 INDEX-7
-rw-r--r--  1 root  wheel  24398870 Sep 29 14:15 INDEX-8
-rw-r--r--  1 root  wheel  41568256 Sep 28 13:13 INDEX-8.db
-rw-r--r--  1 root  wheel  24375369 Sep 29 14:15 INDEX-9
-rw-r--r--  1 root  wheel  91869184 Sep 29 14:22 INDEX-9.db
```
There is only one bug still open in 9.0-BETA3 where it doesn't generate INDEX-9. A quick workaround for this is to issue a:

[CMD=""]#make fetchindex [/CMD]

within the /usr/ports directory.


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## fefaya (Sep 30, 2011)

IIRC, when I use portsnap on FreeBSD 5.5, it downloaded new version of software, like vim 7. (It should download vim 6).
But, I will install fresh FreeBSD 5.5 on virtualbox to test your suggestion.


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## gkontos (Sep 30, 2011)

FreeBSD 5.5-RELEASE is no longer officially supported. My suggestion is not likely to work there.


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## fefaya (Sep 30, 2011)

gkontos said:
			
		

> FreeBSD 5.5-RELEASE is no longer officially supported. My suggestion is not likely to work there.



I don't use FreeBSD 5.5-RELEASE. I only want to test if portsnap will not download Port for newest version.

So, all I need to is:
`portsnap fetch`
`portsnap extract update`

And my FreeBSD 8.2 will not get Ports for FreeBSD 9?


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## kpa (Sep 30, 2011)

Portsnap will give you the most up to date version of the ports tree regardless of the FreeBSD version you're using, in other words there are no separate ports trees for different FreeBSD versions, just one.


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## wblock@ (Sep 30, 2011)

There is only one ports tree, and it's the same for all versions of FreeBSD.  csup(1) with the right date= could get the ports tree as it was when 5.5-RELEASE came out, but that's usually a mistake because there are bound to have been many security fixes in ported applications since 2006.


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## gkontos (Sep 30, 2011)

fefaya said:
			
		

> I don't use FreeBSD 5.5-RELEASE. I only want to test if portsnap will not download Port for newest version.
> 
> So, all i need to is:
> - portsnap fetch
> ...



Like the others mentioned above there is only one ports tree, just different INDEXES depending on the release version you follow.

Regarding FreeBSD 5.5-RELEASE I can't remember if portsnap was included or you had to install it from ports.

For FreeBSD 9.0-BETA3, currently available, you will not get an INDEX unless you do what I described earlier.

It would help to know what exactly you want to do / upgrade ...


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## kpedersen (Sep 30, 2011)

A ports tree from the days of FreeBSD 5.5-RELEASE...

Say hi to Gnome 1 from me 

I doubt that anything from the 5.5-RELEASE era ports tree will build on the later FreeBSD versions due to changes in bsd.ports.Mk and different / newer libraries and binaries in base.


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## fefaya (Sep 30, 2011)

gkontos said:
			
		

> Like the others mentioned above there is only one ports tree, just different INDEXES depending on the release version you follow.
> 
> Regarding FreeBSD 5.5-RELEASE I can't remember if portsnap was included or you had to install it from ports.
> 
> ...



Like i said before, i don't use FreeBSD 5.5-RELEASE. I use 8.2-RELEASE. I just don't want to my 8.2-RELEASE VPS get Ports collection that only suitable for FreeBSD 9.

And sorry, i don't know what can i do with INDEX file.


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## wblock@ (Sep 30, 2011)

fefaya said:
			
		

> Like i said before, i don't use FreeBSD 5.5-RELEASE. I use 8.2-RELEASE. I just don't want to my 8.2-RELEASE VPS get Ports collection that only suitable for FreeBSD 9.



Well, then good news: there isn't a version of the ports collection that's only suitable for FreeBSD 9!


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## kpa (Sep 30, 2011)

Like it or not, you'll get absolutely everything there is in the ports tree when you check it out with portsnap or csup. Some ports may not work with your version of FreeBSD, some may have problems on earlier versions of the OS but that's just something you'll have to deal with.


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## fefaya (Sep 30, 2011)

kpa said:
			
		

> that's just something you'll have to deal with.



Is there any tips to that?
One that comes to my mind is : only install from Ports if we really need to compile the code by ourself. If we don't need some custom setting, we should use pkg_add?


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## gkontos (Sep 30, 2011)

fefaya said:
			
		

> Is there any tips to that?
> One that comes to my mind is : only install from Ports if we really need to compile the code by ourself. If we don't need some custom setting, we should use pkg_add?



General advice, don't mix ports with packages.

I know that this might sound cliche but read the handbook especially the part that is dealing with applications.

Also, given the fact that you are dealing with a server, which means that you don't really need so much software installed. Ports would be a better choice than packages.


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