FreeBSD Handbook
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4.1. Why Have a Ports Collection?
The base FreeBSD system comes with a very wide range of tools and
system utilities, but a lot of popular programs are not in the base
system, for good reasons:-
- Programs that some people cannot live without and other people
cannot stand, such as a certain Lisp-based editor.
- Programs which are too specialised to put in the base system
(CAD, databases).
- Programs which fall into the ``I must have a look at
that when I get a spare minute'' category, rather than system-critical
ones (some languages, perhaps).
- Programs that are far too much fun to be supplied with a serious
operating system like FreeBSD ;-)
- However many programs you put in the base system, people will
always want more, and a line has to be drawn somewhere (otherwise
FreeBSD distributions would become absolutely enormous).
Obviously it would be unreasonable to expect everyone to port their
favourite programs by hand (not to mention a tremendous amount of
duplicated work), so the FreeBSD Project came up with an ingenious
way of using standard tools that would automate the process.
Incidentally, this is an excellent illustration of how ``the Unix way''
works in practice by combining a set of simple but very flexible tools
into something very powerful.
FreeBSD Handbook
: Installing Applications: The Ports collection
: Why Have a Ports Collection?
Previous: Installing Applications: The Ports collection
Next: How Does the Ports Collection Work?
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Updated March 2, 1999