Hi,

I've just installed FreeBSD 8 release.
I've installed, in this order,

links
xfce4
xorg

all via the "ports" system (make install clean...)

Now, in the /var/db/pkg I see 324 directory, listing several programs (I know: there are dependencies), while in /var/db/ports I see:

So, what's the meaning of directory /var/db/pkg and /var/db/ports ?
Why I don't see file only in /var/db/ports? I never installed any programs via the "package" system (pkg_add -r something)

Thankyou very much

FYI, there is a forum specific to FreeBSD ( http://forums.freebsd.org/ )that gets a whole lot more traffic that the FreeBSD section of this forum. However, I think I can answer your question...

/var/db/pkg/ is a directory structure that contains information on each piece of software that you install via ports or packages. It contains a list of the contents of the software, a description, as well as any dependencies (and possibly other information, too).

/var/db/ports/ is a directory structure that contains the configuration options you selected for each piece of software you installed via ports that lets you select options. Not all software in ports gives you a menu to select options from and you can also set BATCH to true so that the ports tree uses the default options. In that case, there will be no entry in /var/db/ports/. You can always revisit that menu of options by changing to the port directory for the software in question and running 'make config'