I don't understand the philosophy behind ports

From: Ole Voss (ole_at_netrogue.de)
Date: 02/04/04 

Date: Wed, 4 Feb 2004 08:46:34 +0100

For approximately 24hours I've let my computer build KDE3 from the ports,
only to come to a screeching halt because autoconf 2.53 is installed and
autoconf 2.54 is required!

I'm partially annoyed because while installing freeBSD 5.2 I've come across
numerous errors like these. Ofcourse KDE was by far the largest build. So
honestly, why use /usr/ports if I still have to worry about all these little
details? I though the ports would take of this so that I don't have to worry
about these things.

Could somebody enlighten me about the process of making ports? Are they
actually tested with the distribution, or is it just assumed to work? Is it
totally normal for every second port to abort due to some minor version
inconsistency?

Here comes the 'calm down' Disclaimer:
Don't get me wrong - I love freeBSD and I've used it for a couple of years
now. I also know its free, but does that mean that things don't have to
work? Or am I just missing something here?

Regards,
Ole.

Relevant Pages

  • Re: Trouble with ports
    ... I've seen that error before, and after installing them, the error goes away. ... >lot when building packages from ports lately. ... Here's what I worry about. ...
    (freebsd-questions)
  • RE: setting autoconf version?
    ... Subject: setting autoconf version? ... I'm installing KDE 3.2 from ports and I get this. ... *** Error code 2 ...
    (freebsd-questions)
  • Re: setuid on nethack?
    ... > not installing this at a bank. ... the ports are surely a lot safer than any Windows-based system; ... There's a lot of downloading and running of scripts ... >> I've read of little vandalware on FreeBSD. ...
    (FreeBSD-Security)
  • Re: CUPS + FreeBSD 6.2 + HP Laserjet 5
    ... so I am installing those... ... I only had cups-base installed and no other cups ports. ... To attempt to fix it I did the following: ... > completely different printer setup than now, ...
    (freebsd-questions)
  • Re: My new WHR-HP-G54 are burned in for ~ 2 weeks
    ... the deed of safely installing the correct DD-WRT software in the first of ... After you've successfully installed DD-WRT, ... Ports are easy. ... ethernet ports on the DD-WRT router, ...
    (alt.internet.wireless)