====== Installing Source Packages ======

===== pkgsrc =====

As of release 3.1.8, [[http://www.netbsd.org/docs/software/packages.html|pkgsrc]] is used to build third party software on Minix3. This page describes how to use pkgsrc.

Before diving in, you should be aware that the Minix 3 project provides precompiled binary packages for many third party applications. This can save a lot of time. See [[.:installingbinarypackages|Installing Binary Packages]] for details.

It should also be noted that the ''/usr/pkgsrc'' hierarchy created below contains a super-set of the packages that can be built, installed, and run on a Minix3 system. In other words, just because a package is present in the ''/usr/pkgsrc'' hierarchy, it does not mean that the package will compile and be usable on a Minix3 system. The file [[http://git.minix3.org/?p=pkgsrc.git;a=blob;f=minix/limited_list.pbulk;hb=refs/heads/minix-master|/usr/pkgsrc/minix/limited_list.pbulk]] contains a list of packages that are known to at least build under Minix3 '[[.:..:developersguide:trackingcurrent|current]]'. The ''limited_list.pbulk'' file is a good starting point for determining whether a package you are interested in is likely to be usable on a Minix3 system.

==== Setting up pkgsrc on Minix ====

git is required to download the pkgsrc tree and gcc is required to compile software
<code>
# pkgin in scmgit-base gcc44
</code>

To set up the pkgsrc tree:
<code>
# cd /usr
# make pkgsrc-create
</code>
Note: this takes slightly more than 1GB of hard disk space (as of November 29, 2011)

<!> This is all that is needed to prepare the system to build software with pkgsrc. The Minix installation comes pre-bootstrapped. Do NOT run the bootstrap script that comes with pkgsrc.

==== Updating the pkgsrc Tree ====

To update the pkgsrc tree in the future:

<code>
# cd /usr
# make pkgsrc-update
</code>

This will download any changes (new versions of packages, patches, etc).

<!> It is important to update your copy of the pkgsrc tree using this method, instead of ''git update'', because this update method may perform additional steps such as updating your mk.conf file.

==== Compiling a Package ====

All pkgsrc operations should be done with bmake.

To build a package, misc/figlet in this example, you need to cd to that directory and do a make install

<code>
# cd /usr/pkgsrc/misc/figlet
# bmake install
</code>
This installs figlet in /usr/pkg/bin

===== Additional Documentation =====

See the official [[http://www.netbsd.org/docs/pkgsrc/|pkgsrc guide]] for complete details.