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PORTSNAP(8)		  BSD System Manager's Manual		   PORTSNAP(8)

NAME
     portsnap -- fetch and extract compressed snapshots	of the ports tree

SYNOPSIS
     portsnap [-I] [-d workdir]	[-f conffile] [-k KEY] [-p portsdir]
	      [-s server] command ... [path]

DESCRIPTION
     The portsnap tool is used to fetch	and update compressed snapshots	of the
     FreeBSD ports tree, and extract and update	an uncompressed	ports tree.

OPTIONS
     The following options are supported:

     -d	workdir	  Store	working	files (e.g. downloaded updates)	in workdir.
		  (default: /var/db/portsnap, or as given in the configuration
		  file.)

     -f	conffile  Read the configuration from from conffile.  (default:
		  /etc/portsnap.conf)

     -I		  For the update command, update INDEX files, but not the rest
		  of the ports tree.

     -k	KEY	  Expect a public key with given SHA256	hash.  (default: read
		  value	from configuration file.)

     -p	portsdir  When extracting or updating an uncompressed snapshot,	oper-
		  ate on the directory portsdir.  (default: /usr/ports/, or as
		  given	in the configuration file.)

     -s	server	  Fetch	files from the specified server	or server pool.	 (de-
		  fault: portsnap.FreeBSD.org ,	or as given in the configura-
		  tion file.)

     path	  For extract command only, operate only on parts of the ports
		  tree starting	with path.  (e.g.  portsnap sysutils/port
		  would	extract	sysutils/portsman, sysutils/portsnap, sysu-
		  tils/portupgrade, etc.)

COMMANDS
     The command can be	any one	of the following:

     fetch	  Fetch	a compressed snapshot of the ports tree, or update the
		  existing snapshot.  This command should only be used inter-
		  actively; for	non-interactive	use, you should	use the	cron
		  command.

     cron	  Sleep	a random amount	of time, then operate as if the	fetch
		  command was specified.  As the name suggests,	this command
		  is designed for running from cron(8);	the random delay
		  serves to minimize the probability that a large number of
		  machines will	simultaneously attempt to fetch	updates.

     extract	  Extract a ports tree,	replacing existing files and directo-
		  ries.	 NOTE: This will remove	anything occupying the loca-
		  tion where files or directories are being extracted; in par-
		  ticular, any changes made locally to the ports tree (for ex-
		  ample, adding	new patches) will be silently obliterated.

		  Only run this	command	to initialize your portsnap-maintained
		  ports	tree for the first time, if you	wish to	start over
		  with a clean,	completely unmodified tree, or if you wish to
		  extract a specific part of the tree (using the path option).

     update	  Update a ports tree extracted	using the extract command.
		  You must run this command to apply changes to	your ports
		  tree after downloading updates via the fetch or cron com-
		  mands.  Again, note that in the parts	of the ports tree
		  which	are being updated, any local changes or	additions will
		  be removed.

TIPS
     o	 If your clock is set to local time, adding the	line

	       0 3 * * * root /usr/sbin/portsnap cron

	 to /etc/crontab is a good way to make sure you	always have an up-to-
	 date snapshot of the ports tree available which can quickly be	ex-
	 tracted into /usr/ports.  If your clock is set	to UTC,	please pick a
	 random	time other than	3AM, to	avoid overly imposing an uneven	load
	 on the	server(s) hosting the snapshots.

     o	 Running portsnap update from cron(8) is a bad idea -- if you're ever
	 installing or updating	a port at the time the cron job	runs, you'll
	 probably end up in a mess when	portsnap updates or removes files
	 which are being used by the port build.  However, running portsnap -I
	 update	is probably safe, and can be used together with	portversion(1)
	 to identify installed software	which is out of	date.

     o	 If you	wish to	use portsnap to	keep a large number of machines	up to
	 date, you may wish to set up a	caching	HTTP proxy.  Since portsnap
	 uses fetch(1) to download updates, setting the	HTTP_PROXY environment
	 variable will direct it to fetch updates from the given proxy.	 This
	 is much more efficient	than mirroring the files on the	portsnap
	 server, since the vast	majority of files are not needed by any	par-
	 ticular client.

FILES
     /etc/portsnap.conf	 Default location of the portsnap configuration	file.

     /var/db/portsnap	 Default location where	compressed snapshots are
			 stored.

     /usr/ports		 Default location where	the ports tree is extracted.

SEE ALSO
     fetch(1) fetch(3) portsnap.conf(5)	sha256(8)

AUTHORS
     Colin Percival <cperciva@FreeBSD.org>

FreeBSD				August 13, 2005			       FreeBSD

NAME | SYNOPSIS | DESCRIPTION | OPTIONS | COMMANDS | TIPS | FILES | SEE ALSO | AUTHORS

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