How to Create an OpenBSD Port and Package

I've attempted to create a port several times in the past, but it looked like too much work, so I gave up. Today, I finally decided to bite the bullet. It was actually fairly simple. Below I show how to create an extremely minimal port. This could be used to package some common scripts you would like to effortlessly deploy on all of your machines. I assume the line "SUDO=/usr/bin/sudo" is in /etc/mk.conf and /usr/ports is writable by the regular user.

A great example of a simple port that consists of a shell script (and a man page) is sysutils/mergemaster.

First, create the actual data structure (i.e. distribution files) for the package. Then tar and compress the distribution into the distfiles directory, which will bypass the remote fetch during port make.

  $ mkdir -p ~/myscripts/myscripts-1.0
  $ cd ~/myscripts/myscripts-1.0
  $ mkdir -p bin share/myscripts
  $ echo 'Docs for myscripts.' > share/myscripts/README

  $ cat << EOF > bin/myscript1
  > #!/bin/sh
  > echo 'this is myscript1'
  > EOF

  $ cat << EOF > bin/myscript2
  > #!/bin/sh
  > echo 'this is myscript2'
  > EOF

  $ cd ..
  $ tar czf /usr/ports/distfiles/myscripts-1.0.tar.gz myscripts-1.0

Make a directory under which you can maintain your local ports.

  $ mkdir -p /usr/ports/mystuff/misc
  $ cd /usr/ports/mystuff/misc

Make a package directory that will resemble your package name.

  $ mkdir myscripts
  $ cd myscripts

Create the port's Makefile using the port system template. When finished, it should look similar to the following:

  $ cp /usr/ports/infrastructure/templates/Makefile.template Makefile
  $ vi Makefile
  $ cat Makefile

  # port/package comment, name, category, and maintainer.
  COMMENT=                extremely minimal porting example
  DISTNAME=               myscripts-1.0
  CATEGORIES=             misc
  MAINTAINER=             Clint Pachl <pachl@ecentryx.com>

  # Mandatory licensing variables.
  PERMIT_PACKAGE_CDROM=   NO
  PERMIT_PACKAGE_FTP=     NO
  PERMIT_DISTFILES_CDROM= NO
  PERMIT_DISTFILES_FTP=   NO

  # Don't build or run regress tests; specify all architectures.
  NO_BUILD=               Yes
  NO_REGRESS=             Yes
  PKG_ARCH=               *

  # Install myscripts under /usr/local/.
  do-install:
        ${INSTALL_SCRIPT} ${WRKSRC}/bin/* ${PREFIX}/bin/
        ${INSTALL_DATA_DIR} ${PREFIX}/share/myscripts/
        ${INSTALL_DATA} ${WRKSRC}/share/myscripts/* ${PREFIX}/share/myscripts/

  # Include the BSD port system.
  .include <bsd.port.mk>

Create the distinfo file, which contains hash digests of the distribution. At this point, try to fake install the port to make sure everything works. The fake target will fetch, verify checksum, extract, patch, configure, build, and fake install the distfile under the working directory.

  $ make makesum
  $ make fake

The description and packing list files are prerequisites to creating a package. The description file is a long description of the package, as opposed to the short comment in the port's Makefile. The plist target generates a default packing list derived from the fake install.

  $ mkdir pkg
  $ echo 'This is the myscripts package example.' > pkg/DESCR
  $ make plist

Finally, create the myscripts package under /usr/ports/packages. To install the package, run either make install or pkg_add(1). Test the install by verifying that the scripts are installed in your PATH and are executable.

  $ make package
  $ make install
  $ myscript1 && myscript2
  $ pkg_info myscripts
  $ sudo pkg_delete myscripts

For more info, check out ports(7); pay attention to the URLs and other man pages mentioned in the "SEE ALSO" section.

Thanks to Marc Espie and friends for a great porting/packaging system. And as always, if you make a port of something that you think may be useful to other OpenBSD users, please test it on current and submit it to ports@.

Editor's Note:

If you're going to submit your stuff to ports@, please make sure to first clean it up and then double check that everything is working correctly. All that is needed for a proper submission is a 'tar-ball' of the specific port directory that you are working on, specifically:

cd /usr/ports/mystuff/misc && make clean && tar -czvf ./myscripts.tgz ./myscripts

Keep in mind that messy or broken ports are going to be easily discarded so take your time and get it right the first time.

Thanks Clint for your great submission!Good luck and happy porting!