The
tool is used to fetch and update compressed snapshots
of the
Fx ports tree, and extract and update an
uncompressed ports tree.
OPTIONS
The following options are supported:
-d workdir
Store working files (e.g. downloaded updates) in
workdir
(default:
/var/db/portsnap
or as given in the configuration file.)
-f conffile
Read the configuration from
conffile
(default:
/etc/portsnap.conf
-I
For the
update
command, update INDEX files, but not the rest of the ports tree.
-k KEY
Expect a public key with given SHA256 hash.
(default: read value from configuration file.)
-l descfile
Merge the specified local describes file into the INDEX files being
built.
The
descfile
should be generated by running
make describe
in each of the local port directories.
-p portsdir
When extracting or updating an uncompressed snapshot,
operate on the directory
portsdir
(default:
/usr/ports/
or as given in the configuration file.)
-s server
Fetch files from the specified server or server pool.
(default: portsnap.FreeBSD.org , or as given in the
configuration file.)
path
For
extract
command only, operate only on parts of the ports tree starting with
path
(e.g.
extractsysutils/port
would extract sysutils/portsman, sysutils/portsnap,
sysutils/portupgrade, etc.)
COMMANDS
The
command
can be any one of the following:
fetch
Fetch a compressed snapshot of the ports tree, or update
the existing snapshot.
This command should only be used interactively; for
non-interactive use, you should use the
cron
command.
cron
Sleep a random amount of time between 1 and 3600 seconds,
then operate as if the
fetch
command was specified.
As the name suggests, this command is designed for running
from
cron(8);
the random delay serves to minimize the probability that
a large number of machines will simultaneously attempt to
fetch updates.
extract
Extract a ports tree, replacing existing files and directories.
NOTE: This will remove anything occupying the location where
files or directories are being extracted; in particular, any
changes made locally to the ports tree (for example, adding new
patches) will be silently obliterated.
Only run this command to initialize your portsnap-maintained
ports tree for the first time, if you wish to start over with
a clean, completely unmodified tree, or if you wish to extract
a specific part of the tree (using the
path
option).
update
Update a ports tree extracted using the
extract
command.
You must run this command to apply changes to your ports tree
after downloading updates via the
fetch
or
cron
commands.
Again, note that in the parts of the ports tree which are being
updated, any local changes or additions will be removed.
TIPS
If your clock is set to local time, adding the line
0 3 * * * root /usr/sbin/portsnap cron
to /etc/crontab is a good way to make sure you always have
an up-to-date snapshot of the ports tree available which
can quickly be extracted into
/usr/ports
If your clock is set to UTC, please pick a random time other
than 3AM, to avoid overly imposing an uneven load on the
server(s) hosting the snapshots.
Running
update
from
cron(8)
is a bad idea -- if you are ever installing or updating a
port at the time the cron job runs, you will probably end up
in a mess when
updates or removes files which are being used by the port
build.
However, running
-Iupdate
is probably safe, and can be used together with
portversion(1)
to identify installed software which is out of date.
If you wish to use
to keep a large number of machines up to date, you may wish
to set up a caching HTTP proxy.
Since
uses
fetch(1)
to download updates, setting the
HTTP_PROXY
environment variable will direct it to fetch updates from
the given proxy.
This is much more efficient than
mirroring
the files on the portsnap server, since the vast majority
of files are not needed by any particular client.
PRIVACY NOTICE
As an unavoidable part of its operation, a machine running
will make its public IP address and the list of files it fetches
available to the server from which it fetches updates.
Using these it may be possible to recognize a machine over an extended
period of time, determine when it is updated, and identify which
portions of the FreeBSD ports tree, if any, are being ignored using
"REFUSE" directives in
portsnap.conf
In addition, the FreeBSD release level is transmitted to the server.
Statistical data generated from information collected in this manner
may be published, but only in aggregate and after anonymizing the
individual systems.
FILES
/etc/portsnap.conf
Default location of the portsnap configuration file.
/var/db/portsnap
Default location where compressed snapshots are stored.
/usr/ports
Default location where the ports tree is extracted.
