CVSup Method

This is a quick method for getting and keeping your copy of the Ports Collection up to date using CVSup protocol. If you want to learn more about CVSup, see Using CVSup.

Note: The implementation of CVSup protocol included with the FreeBSD system is called csup. It first appeared in FreeBSD 6.2. Users of older FreeBSD releases can install it via thenet/csup port/package.

Make sure /usr/ports is empty before you run csup for the first time! If you already have the Ports Collection present, obtained from another source, csup will not prune removed patch files.

  1. Run csup: 
    # csup -L 2 -h cvsup.FreeBSD.org /usr/share/examples/cvsup/ports-supfile

    Change cvsup.FreeBSD.org to a CVSup server near you. See CVSup Mirrors (Section A.6.7) for a complete listing of mirror sites.

    Note: One may want to use his own ports-supfile, for example to avoid the need of passing the CVSup server on the command line.

    1. In this case, as root, copy /usr/share/examples/cvsup/ports-supfile to a new location, such as /root or your home directory.
    2. Edit ports-supfile.
    3. Change CHANGE_THIS.FreeBSD.org to a CVSup server near you. See CVSup Mirrors (Section A.6.7) for a complete listing of mirror sites.
    4. And now to run csup, use the following: 
      # csup -L 2 /root/ports-supfile
  2. Running the csup(1) command later will download and apply all the recent changes to your Ports Collection, except actually rebuilding the ports for your own system.