# pkg in iso format



## Swell (Aug 13, 2018)

Hi newbie here.

I was wondering if there is a way to get packages in an iso format? Where I can download and store the iso locally and install from the iso!

I am learning unix and installing on oracle virtualbox trying different things and  doing reinstalls of FreeBSD when I mess things up .
Have a limited download, installing packages all the time from the repository is chewing into my download.


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## Beastie (Aug 14, 2018)

https://www.freebsd.org/releases/11.2R/announce.html:


> *dvd1*
> This contains everything necessary to install the base FreeBSD operating system, the documentation, debugging distribution sets, and a *small set of pre-built packages aimed at getting a graphical workstation up and running*. It also supports booting into a "livefs" based rescue mode. This should be all you need if you can burn and use DVD-sized media.



You can pick the one relevant to your architecture here. Obviously these are RELEASE- packages.

Also note that if you've been downloading packages again and again, you can grab them from pkg's cache for later use. pkg.conf(5):


> PKG_CACHEDIR: string
> Specifies the cache directory for packages. Default: */var/cache/pkg*


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## Swell (Aug 17, 2018)

Beastie said:


> https://www.freebsd.org/releases/11.2R/announce.html:
> 
> 
> You can pick the one relevant to your architecture here. Obviously these are RELEASE- packages.
> ...



Thank you , I did download and burn the 11.2R dic1 iso,  which I have been using to do the re-installs of FreeBSD in my VM. I was not aware that other packages were included.  I thought extra packages had to be downloaded from the FreeBSD repository.

I will download and burn the dvd iso.

I eventually did an install of gnome, but haven't been able to figure how to get it to start.
Big learning curve.
I edited /etc/rc.conf and /etc/fstab as per the handbook page for gnome. I had expected to launch into a gui.  Did I skip a step by completing the rc.conf edit it one edit. 
Should I have done a reboot before doing the "gdm_enable" and the "gnome_enable"?


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## kpa (Aug 17, 2018)

Services can be started and restarted without rebooting in almost all cases. Look here:

https://www.freebsd.org/doc/handbook/configtuning-rcd.html


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## Swell (Aug 17, 2018)

Beastie said:


> Also note that if you've been downloading packages again and again, you can grab them from pkg's cache for later use. pkg.conf(5):


Of course this all disappears when the "installed system" gets screwed.
As this is all very early in my learning curve I haven't figured how to get this from the VM into a windows host file system for later use. In my to learn bucket list.


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## Swell (Aug 17, 2018)

kpa said:


> Services can be started and restarted without rebooting in almost all cases. Look here:
> 
> https://www.freebsd.org/doc/handbook/configtuning-rcd.html


I went thru the procedure I thought was correct.


```
service gnome onestart
```
I get the following error
gnome does not exist in /etc/rc.d or the local startup
directories (/usr/local/etc/rc.d), or is not executable

I had a look in (/usr/local/etc/rc.d) and there is no reference to gnome there.
I guess somehow I botched the pkg install or something.
I have to rebuild the VM from the DVD iso I have downloaded. try try again.


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## SirDice (Aug 17, 2018)

There is no "service" called gnome. It's simply a convenient short-hand for:

```
hald_enable="YES"
gdm_enable="YES"
dbus_enable="YES"
```

The FAQ is for a really old Gnome version but this part is still valid, even with the latest version: https://www.freebsd.org/gnome/docs/faq2.html#full-gnome


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## Beastie (Aug 19, 2018)

Swell said:


> I was not aware that other packages were included.  I thought extra packages had to be downloaded from the FreeBSD repository.


Only in the dvd installation media. The disc1 and memstick ones have no packages. And as I said, you only have a relatively limited choice. After some time you'll want to update all your packages and that can only be achieved online.



Swell said:


> I will download and burn the dvd iso.


Burning is not necessary. mdconfig(8) lets you create file-backed devices from both disk images (memstick) and ISO images (disc1 and dvd). These devices can then be mounted like any other device.


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## kpedersen (Aug 19, 2018)

Its a bit naff but use wget or curl's recursive feature to scrape the packages from the package server here (i.e for FreeBSD 11 x86_64):

http://pkg.freebsd.org/FreeBSD:11:amd64/latest

Look up curl and the -r (recursive), -np (no parent) flags (sorry I would put the exact command I use but I don't have it on this workstation).


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