mirror of
https://github.com/wezm/wezm.net.git
synced 2024-12-21 03:39:54 +00:00
87 lines
4.1 KiB
HTML
87 lines
4.1 KiB
HTML
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/
|