How would i create a package in freebsd if the src was not in ports?

The "easy" way is to make your own port. It's cleaner and allows for nicer upgrades... usually. But that depends on how involved you are and how committed you are to the project.

If you are too lazy for that (and that's okay too) you'll want to read the manpage for pkg_create(1) http://www.freebsd.org/cgi/man.cgi?query=pkg_create

Basically, you create a file which lists all the files installed by the program (offset from the prefix you specify). So if I installed foobar (a sample program I wrote) in /usr/local/bin then the file would have and the prefix would be set to /usr/local

You create a couple description files (short one line, and longer one)... and specify anything else your program needs to install cleanly from those programs (possibly a script to add the program to /etc/shells if it is a new shell and one to remove it upon deinstallation).

Read the man page and play around with it until you get something which is exactly what you want.

If this program is at all complicated... you can use programs to help generate some of these files. For example, a find search before and after you install the program with a diff will show you all the files installed by the program (if you don't know exactly what it does) and so on.

maybe i am not understanding, but it seems like a lot of work, say for instance i download src from a svn and i compile it like normal .. ./configure --flags.. && gmake && gmake install DESTDIR=/tmp/foo , then i would goto /tmp/foo and type all the files into that file? and then pkg_create -f foo and the package is made recursively from that dir?

Or does desc have to be made? of course if it was to go into ports it would have to written.

hopefully i have understood proberly..

maybe you could tell me about the programs that generate the files into a file, as typing 1000 filenames would be tedious.


thanks

Well, let's assume the program installs into /usr/local by default (or you set it to install there). This works for any prefix (even /tmp/foo) just change the parts where I specify /usr/local

I know it looks like a lot (but it's actually not bad) and it lets you install the program right into the place on the system you want without specifying an empty prefix (like /tmp/foo). I actually use this to generate the list of files for programs I maintain just to ensure I don't miss anything.

If you want to use an empty prefix... you can just do:
But I am not sure this won't complicate things as you will need a different prefix for the package process than you wish to use for the installation on a system. But you should never have to type all those filenames into a file... there are tools to help you generate all that (which is why the command line is so vital to unix-like systems).

Note: in the sed command you need to escape .'s and /'s... if they appear in the path you are trying to remove. Which is why I have "\/usr\/local\/" and not "/usr/local/" in the above. Also, if the system is multi-user and you're not the only person doing things on it... you should visually check the generated file to ensure that all the files listed make sense. That way if someone else created a file under /usr/local after your first find but before the second, you're not going to include it as part of the package.

The description information can be anything you want. Anything at all... but it is needed for pkg_info to properly report the package when it's installed on your system. You can have:

Short:Long:It doesn't really matter what they say, since they're for your system... but you should have something there.