Updating a Port in FreeBSD Ports
I was in need of updating a FreeBSD port and this was the first time I was running through the process, so I decided to jot down my process.
Getting the Source
The overall process is laid out in Chapter 11. Upgrading a Port. I also wanted to use git so I also followed the instructions laid out in 11.1. Using Git to Make Patches to make my changes. I basically ran the following to get the source:
> git clone https://git.FreeBSD.org/ports.git freebsd-ports
Switching to Github
The port has since moved to a github repo and FreeBSD ports contains new directives to download source from Github instead of a website. The options are all described in 5.4.3. USE_GITHUB. After migrating to pull from github we saw the following changes:
$ git diff 4519b9 4618
diff --git a/net-mgmt/myapp/Makefile b/net-mgmt/myapp/Makefile
index 234ca47a..5b89f106 100644
--- a/net-mgmt/myapp/Makefile
+++ b/net-mgmt/myapp/Makefile
@@ -1,9 +1,8 @@
PORTNAME= myapp
-PORTVERSION= 1.2.18
+DISTVERSION= 1.2.19
CATEGORIES= net-mgmt
-MASTER_SITES= https://download.com/myapp/
MAINTAINER= you@gmail.com
COMMENT= My App
@@ -11,13 +10,17 @@ COMMENT= My App
LICENSE= GPLv2
LICENSE_FILE= ${WRKSRC}/COPYING.GPL
USES= tar:bzip2
GNU_CONFIGURE= yes
+USE_GITHUB= yes
+GH_ACCOUNT= you
+GH_PROJECT= myapp
USE_RC_SUBR= myapp
That’s not too bad.
Generating the distinfo file
This is described in 3.3. Creating the Checksum File. We just need to run the following:
export PORTSDIR=~/freebsd-ports
$ make makesum
===> License GPLv2 accepted by the user
===> License GPLv2 accepted by the user
===> myapp-1.2.19 depends on file: /usr/local/sbin/pkg - found
=> you-myapp-1.2.19_GH0.tar.gz doesn't seem to exist in /home/elatov/freebsd-ports/distfiles/.
=> Attempting to fetch https://codeload.github.com/you/myapp/tar.gz/1.2.19?dummy=/you-myapp-1.2.19_GH0.tar.gz
fetch: https://codeload.github.com/you/myapp/tar.gz/1.2.19?dummy=/you-myapp-1.2.19_GH0.tar.gz: size of remote file is not known
you-myapp-1.2.19_GH0.tar.gz 101 kB 885 kBps 00s
===> Fetching all distfiles required by myapp-1.2.19 for building
And you will also see the distinfo file updated:
diff --git a/net-mgmt/myapp/distinfo b/net-mgmt/myapp/distinfo
index 9219ca4b..90cb2abb 100644
--- a/net-mgmt/myapp/distinfo
+++ b/net-mgmt/myapp/distinfo
@@ -1,2 +1,3 @@
-SHA256 (myapp-1.2.18.tar.bz2) = aeaf909585f7f43
-SIZE (myapp-1.2.18.tar.bz2) = 117695
+TIMESTAMP = 1641833619
+SHA256 (you-myapp-1.2.19_GH0.tar.gz) = 371c94cb9c4269e7
+SIZE (you-myapp-1.2.19_GH0.tar.gz) = 103806
Port Formatting and Linting
The 10.2. Portclippy / Portfmt and 10.3. Portlint pages have instructions on how to make sure the formatting of the Makefile are correct correct. So let’s run those:
> sudo pkg install portfmt portlint
Then you can run them to make sure the formatting of the Makefile is good. After following the instructions and fixing everything, here is how my end result looked like:
$ portfmt -i Makefile
$ portlint -A
WARN: Consider to set DEVELOPER=yes in /etc/make.conf
0 fatal errors and 1 warning found.
You can also use portfmt without the -i flag to see what changes are made to the Makefile.
Switching to autoconf
Before the source would contain all the configure scripts but now we have the source and we need to run autoconf and autoheader to generate the configure scripts. Luckily the build system contains a built step for this, it’s 17.4. autoreconf. After modifying the Makefile, here is how it looked like:
-USES= tar:bzip2
+USES= autoreconf
GNU_CONFIGURE= yes
Initially running a make stage, I received the following error:
$ make stage
===> License GPLv2 accepted by the user
===> myapp-1.2.19 depends on file: /usr/local/sbin/pkg - found
=> you-myapp-1.2.19_GH0.tar.gz doesn't seem to exist in /home/elatov/freebsd-ports/distfiles/.
=> Attempting to fetch https://codeload.github.com/you/myapp/tar.gz/1.2.19?dummy=/you-myapp-1.2.19_GH0.tar.gz
fetch: https://codeload.github.com/you/myapp/tar.gz/1.2.19?dummy=/you-myapp-1.2.19_GH0.tar.gz: size unknown
fetch: https://codeload.github.com/you/myapp/tar.gz/1.2.19?dummy=/you-myapp-1.2.19_GH0.tar.gz: size of remote file is not known
you-myapp-1.2.19_GH0.tar.gz 101 kB 33 kBps 03s
===> Fetching all distfiles required by myapp-1.2.19 for building
===> Extracting for myapp-1.2.19
=> SHA256 Checksum OK for you-myapp-1.2.19_GH0.tar.gz.
===> Patching for myapp-1.2.19
===> myapp-1.2.19 depends on package: autoconf>=2.69 - found
===> myapp-1.2.19 depends on package: automake>=1.16.1 - found
===> Configuring for myapp-1.2.19
configure.ac:2: error: Autoconf version 2.71 or higher is required
configure.ac:2: the top level
It looks like version 2.71 of autoconf is not in ports yet and there is a bug to eventually add it. So I decided to modify the source to not depend on that version:
+post-extract:
+ ${REINPLACE_CMD} -e 's/2.71/2.69/g' ${WRKSRC}/configure.ac
+
And then the build succeeded:
$ make stage
===> License GPLv2 accepted by the user
===> myapp-1.2.19 depends on file: /usr/local/sbin/pkg - found
===> Fetching all distfiles required by myapp-1.2.19 for building
===> Extracting for myapp-1.2.19
=> SHA256 Checksum OK for you-myapp-1.2.19_GH0.tar.gz.
/usr/bin/sed -i.bak -e 's/2.71/2.69/g' /usr/home/elatov/freebsd-ports/net-mgmt/myapp/work/myapp-1.2.19/configure.ac
===> Patching for myapp-1.2.19
===> myapp-1.2.19 depends on package: autoconf>=2.69 - found
===> myapp-1.2.19 depends on package: automake>=1.16.1 - found
===> Configuring for myapp-1.2.19
...
...
===> Staging for myapp-1.2.19
===> Generating temporary packing list
/usr/bin/install -c -d /usr/home/elatov/freebsd-ports/net-mgmt/myapp/work/stage/usr/local/sbin
====> Compressing man pages (compress-man)
===> Staging rc.d startup script(s)
Testing the Port
From 3.4. Testing the Port, here are the commands we need to run:
$ make package
===> Building package for myapp-1.2.19
elatov@moxz:~/freebsd-ports/net-mgmt/myapp $ make install
===> Installing for myapp-1.2.19
===> Checking if myapp is already installed
===> Switching to root credentials for 'install' target
## Run the new application to test and make it's working as expected
##
elatov@moxz:~/freebsd-ports/net-mgmt/myapp $ sudo /usr/local/sbin/myapp
elatov@moxz:~/freebsd-ports/net-mgmt/myapp $ make deinstall
===> Switching to root credentials for 'deinstall' target
Password:
===> Deinstalling for myapp
===> Deinstalling myapp-1.2.19
Updating database digests format: 100%
Checking integrity... done (0 conflicting)
Deinstallation has been requested for the following 1 packages (of 0 packages in the universe):
Installed packages to be REMOVED:
myapp: 1.2.19
Number of packages to be removed: 1
[1/1] Deinstalling myapp-1.2.19...
[1/1] Deleting files for myapp-1.2.19: 100%
===> Returning to user credentials
Generate Patch for Port
If all is well you should be ready to prepare a patch to be submitted as described in 11.1. Using Git to Make Patches. Let’s create a branch:
> git pull
> git checkout -b my_branch
If you took a while between the latest pull and making your patch, make sure you get the latest source:
$ git fetch origin main
remote: Enumerating objects: 312, done.
remote: Counting objects: 100% (312/312), done.
remote: Compressing objects: 100% (183/183), done.
remote: Total 186 (delta 125), reused 0 (delta 0), pack-reused 0
Receiving objects: 100% (186/186), 23.76 KiB | 7.92 MiB/s, done.
Resolving deltas: 100% (125/125), completed with 92 local objects.
From https://git.FreeBSD.org/ports
* branch main -> FETCH_HEAD
4519b9e81473..f42f32be2db8 main -> origin/main
$ git rebase origin/main
Successfully rebased and updated refs/heads/my_branch.
And commit the changes to your branch:
> git add .
> git commit
The format of the commit message is described in 5.2.7.1. Commit message formats. Then create the patch:
> git format-patch main
That will create a file in the local directory (in the format of 0001-foo.patch) and when you create a bug to update the port, you will attach it to that bug. The steps to create the bug are laid out in Chapter 11. Upgrading a Port. Then that you just hope your change will be added to the ports after appropriate review.