LinuxQuestions.org - [SOLVED] Should LOCALBASE be a pre-defined environmental variable?

- *BSD (https://www.linuxquestions.org/questions/%2Absd-17/)

- - Should LOCALBASE be a pre-defined environmental variable? (https://www.linuxquestions.org/questions/%2Absd-17/should-localbase-be-a-pre-defined-environmental-variable-4175646388/)

Should LOCALBASE be a pre-defined environmental variable?

I've seen `${LOCALBASE}` used in a couple BSD makefiles recently for a couple different projects. Ex:

Code:

CONFIGURE_ENV=        CPPFLAGS="-I${LOCALBASE}/include" \

LDFLAGS="-L${LOCALBASE}/lib"

I'm using OpenBSD 6.4 but that variable isn't in my environment. Is it normally present and defined on BSD systems?

It's a variable used by the ports(7) infrastructure. Per bsd.port.mk(5), which describes all targets and usable variables:

Code:

    LOCALBASE

            where other ports have already been installed.  Default:

            /usr/local.

The pkg_add(1) man page is also helpful:

Code:

    -L localbase

              Install a package under localbase.  By default, localbase equals

              /usr/local, and specifying it is not necessary.  However,

              packages can be created using a different localbase (see

              pkg_create(1)), and those packages can only be installed by

              using the same localbase.  See bsd.port.mk(5) for a description

              of LOCALBASE.