Ports vs Pkg_Add vs ...

[coltrane]

I was reading random FreeBSD conversation on IRC this morning while configuring Samba 2.4 on FreeBSD 5.1, and there was a random discussion about how using ports is the lazy way out.

Was that sarcasm? You use the right tools for the job, isnt that job of the Administrator? L33t1sm or not, I thought that a very odd statement to make. I do both.

Compiling of Galeon has now reach an hour.....and still going....

[ifred]

I agree with the point that you use the right tool for the job. To me the different ways of adding programs to my system simply allow for a wider range of installation options. Ideally, I would go with pkg_add. Programs install quickly with little hassle. Also, on systems with limited hard drive capacity, there is a limit to how what you can compile when you are short on space. I don't see how using ports is lazy. I mean the ports collection is provided by the developers for people to use and, from my perspective, is a pretty handy feature of FreeBSD overall. I guess it's more convenient than compiling from a 3rd party source, but if you were to do that for every program you added to your machine you could needlessly end up using a lot of time looking for stuff and getting things to work. In the end, if you are only concerned about your own machines, you can do things however you want. The only criteria that really matters (I think) is that you enjoy yourself and have fun.

[Ashcrow]

I generally use pkg_add (from ftp) when I need to install something with many dependencies and takes a long time to compile ... other wise I use ports.

[Kernel_Killer]

Ports all the way. If it takes awile, I just start the compiling b4 bed. :P

[Schotty]

[quote author=Kernel_Killer link=board=10;threadid=7526;start=0#msg69081 date=1060498334]
Ports all the way. If it takes awile, I just start the compiling b4 bed. :P
[/quote]

Yes, Master Copy is correct. Providing you are not forced to manual labor on a 56K dialup. Then its called "pkg_add over ftp".

[elmore]

[quote author=Kernel_Killer link=board=10;threadid=7526;start=0#msg69081 date=1060498334]
Ports all the way. If it takes awile, I just start the compiling b4 bed. :P
[/quote]

If you don't need to do other things on the box while it's compiling you can of course just nice the process. Try

nice -10 make install clean

Of course if you do this keep in mind you won;t be doing much else while the box is compiling.

[gmoreno]

I like ports because it gets the dependencies for you

[Schotty]

[quote author=gmoreno link=board=10;threadid=7526;start=0#msg70815 date=1063901121]
I like ports because it gets the dependencies for you
[/quote]

Usually ;D

OpenBSD did better than FreeBSD for me. But I am sure it was application choices and what I had already grabbed.