The FreeBSD Diary

1. Installing FreeBSD
2. Getting cvsup
3. make world
4. installing Apache

NOTE: Since originally writing this article, I now add cvsup with the following command:

pkg_add -r cvsup

I suggest you use the above command instead of what appears below.

There are two ways to install cvsup.  From a port, or from a package.  From a port, you would do this:

# cd /usr/ports/net/cvsup-bin
# make install

Warning: do not install cvsup from sources (i.e. /usr/ports/net/cvsup).  It takes hours and hours to install.

But if you don't have the ports skeletons installed, what do you do?  Well, you could install a port without the ports.  Or you could just use a package.  Which is what I did in this case.

I wanted cvsup-bin-16.1, which is a package.  I used the CD-ROM to get my package.   It's on the first CD of the 4CD pack from Walnut Creek.  Use the following to get the package:

/stand/sysinstall
Configure
Packages
CDROM
net
cvsup-bin-16.1  (press space, then enter)

If you don't have the CD-ROM, try ftp, etc.  See also installing a port without installing the ports for an alternative to the above.  Of course, you could always just grab the package from an ftp server.  Look in pub/FreeBSD/FreeBSD-stable/packages/net/ for cvsup-bin-16.1.tgz on your favorite server.  For a list of servers, see Official Mirrors.

When you run cvsup, you need a configuration file.  I used the sample cvsup files supplied with FreeBSD:

/usr/share/examples/cvsup/stable-supfile

WARNING: In older versions of FreeBSD, you won't find stable-supfile. You'll have to use standard-supfile instead and make the changes below to default release value.

I copied this file to my favorite place and modified it accordingly.  I changed the host to my favorite cvsup server and I also changed the release tag.  Here are the items I changed:

*default host=fred
*default release=cvs tag=RELENG_4

That means I get FreeBSD 4 STABLE from fred, the cvsup server on my local LAN.  If you don't know what cvsup server to use, look at this mirror list, which is very up to date.

It is very important to get the tag correct.  If you don't, you'll have the wrong sources.  The default value is . which means -current.  If you are reading this article, you probably don't want -current.  If anything, you want -stable.  So pick the correct tag.  For a list of valid tags, try the following URLs:

http://www.freebsd.org/doc/en_US.ISO8859-1/books/handbook/anoncvs.html
http://www.freebsd.org/doc/en_US.ISO8859-1/books/handbook/cvsup.html

If you are looking for FreeBSD 4.1, then your tag would be RELENG_4_1_0_RELEASE.

NOTE: Don't worry about releases/version when cvsup'ing your ports.  There is only one version of the Ports collection.  All versions of FreeBSD use the same ports collection.  Therefore, when updating your ports use this tag:

tag=.

Then I ran cvsup this way:

cvsup -P m stable-supfile

Actually, can get away with just:

cvsup stable-supfile

Try that and see if it works.  I had to use the first example because of a firewall issue. You may be able to get away with the second example.

After that, I did a make-world.  But I'll document that in another article.  It's time to head out for dinner.