mirror of
https://github.com/wezm/wezm.net.git
synced 2024-12-18 18:29:54 +00:00
Add mac-os-x-package-management-with-pkgsrc
This commit is contained in:
Wesley Moore
parent
43dcc185ff
commit
0184de3b8d
2 changed files with 101 additions and 0 deletions
|
|
@ -0,0 +1,87 @@
|
|||
Most developers that work on a Mac are aware of the [MacPorts][macports]
|
||||
project that provides a build framework for open source software on Mac OS X.
|
||||
MacPorts is certainly not the only option for installing this type of software
|
||||
though. Other options include:
|
||||
|
||||
[macports]: http://www.macports.org/
|
||||
|
||||
* [Fink](http://www.finkproject.org/)
|
||||
* [Homebrew](http://mxcl.github.com/homebrew/)
|
||||
* [Rudix](http://rudix.org/)
|
||||
* [pkgsrc][pkgsrc]
|
||||
|
||||
Each of these has its benefits. For my package management needs I use the
|
||||
lesser known [pkgsrc][pkgsrc]. pkgsrc is maintained by the [NetBSD][netbsd]
|
||||
project and aims to provide a cross platform framework for building open-source
|
||||
software. The supported platforms include *BSD, Solaris, Linux and Mac OS X.
|
||||
It contains over 8000 packages.
|
||||
|
||||
[pkgsrc]: http://www.pkgsrc.org/
|
||||
[netbsd]: http://www.netbsd.org/
|
||||
|
||||
For a user used to MacPorts or Homebrew pkgsrc might seem a bit clunky.
|
||||
Packages are built by changing into the directory for a project and issuing a
|
||||
make command. However if you can move past that it offers some benefits that I
|
||||
don't think the others do.
|
||||
|
||||
## Security
|
||||
|
||||
The first of the pkgsrc benefits is proper management of vulnerabilities in the
|
||||
managed software. The project maintains a database of vulnerabilities that is
|
||||
consulted whenever you attempt to install a package and won't let you install a
|
||||
vulnerable package without manual intervention. There is also a pkg_audit
|
||||
command that checks the currently installed packages against the
|
||||
vulnerabilities database. The recommended setup has the database updated and
|
||||
pkg_audit run daily via cron.
|
||||
|
||||
Whilst tracking security vulnerabilities on a local dev machine may not be as
|
||||
important as doing so for a publicly accessible server I think its still good
|
||||
practice to ensure your third-party software isn't exposing you to unnecessary
|
||||
risks. Also if you were to use a Mac as a publicly accessible server I think
|
||||
this vulnerability tracking would be very important.
|
||||
|
||||
## Quarterly Releases
|
||||
|
||||
Most of the Mac OS X package managers just slowly tick along as the maintainers
|
||||
update their packages. Installing a set of packages one day may install
|
||||
different versions the next. For example if you have a team working on a
|
||||
project that requires libxml2, the version each of the team members will get is
|
||||
whatever was current at the time they installed it.
|
||||
|
||||
This can be particularly problematic when the package changes enough that it
|
||||
breaks the usage in a project. Resulting in a situation where it works for most
|
||||
people except the poor person who just joined the project and it trying to get
|
||||
all the dependencies installed. Thus forcing the project members to all upgrade
|
||||
to the new version. (This actually happened to me)
|
||||
|
||||
pkgsrc handles this by making quarterly stable releases. These releases are a
|
||||
snapshot of a stable set of packages that are only updated to apply security
|
||||
patches. A team all tracking a given pkgsrc stable release will therefore all
|
||||
get the same version of the software.
|
||||
|
||||
The quarterly releases also have benefits to anyone deploying a Mac server as
|
||||
it allows known versions of the packages to be developed against and then
|
||||
deployed on the server no matter how much time elapses.
|
||||
|
||||
## Bulk Builds
|
||||
|
||||
The NetBSD project maintains a bunch of pkgsrc bulk build servers for various
|
||||
versions and architectures of NetBSD and other systems (sadly not Darwin
|
||||
though). These bulk build servers regularly build every package that pkgsrc
|
||||
tracks and report back on any failures. This continuous testing feeds into the
|
||||
stable releases and also helps to ensure that all the packages are compatible
|
||||
with each other. I have in the past has instances with MacPorts where updates
|
||||
to one package broke others. The [pkgsrc-bulk mailing list][pkgsrcbulk]
|
||||
receives the result of the bulk builds.
|
||||
|
||||
[pkgsrcbulk]: http://mail-index.NetBSD.org/pkgsrc-bulk/
|
||||
|
||||
## Conclusion
|
||||
|
||||
In this post I've outlined some of the benefits that pkgsrc can bring to Mac
|
||||
users. Such as a large library of over 8000 packages, security vulnerability
|
||||
tracking and stable releases. Its these reasons why I choose to use pkgsrc on
|
||||
Mac OS X. If you're interested in installing pkgsrc checkout the [pkgsrc
|
||||
guide][guide].
|
||||
|
||||
[guide]: http://www.netbsd.org/docs/pkgsrc/
|
||||
|
|
@ -0,0 +1,14 @@
|
|||
---
|
||||
title: Mac OS X Package Management With pkgsrc
|
||||
extra: Some information about pkgsrc and why you'd want to use it on Mac OS X.
|
||||
kind: article
|
||||
section: technical
|
||||
created_at: 2011-01-22 03:41:00
|
||||
keywords:
|
||||
- mac
|
||||
- os
|
||||
- netbsd
|
||||
- pkgsrc
|
||||
- package
|
||||
- management
|
||||
short_url: http://bit.ly/ew9Kph
|
||||
Loading…
Reference in a new issue