BePorter

Introduction

BePorter is a command line Python application that, using the information contained in a BePort's BepFile:

  • fetches the original source code archive
  • extracts this archive
  • patches the sources for compilation on a BeOS platform
  • builds the software
  • installs the software

In addition to these features, it would be interesting to have BePorter automatically create a SoftwareValet installer for the port.

Currently BePorter can not automatically resolve any dependencies. The BePorts project's main objective is the porting of software to the BeOS platform, and not to create a package management system as powerful as Gentoo Portage or the FreeBSD ports system. Automatic dependency handling is therefor not high on the to-do list.

BePorter depends on two files:

Requirements

BePorter is implemented in Python, and hence requires Python (dev-lang/python).

One of the goals of BePorter is to be as simple as possible. This includes minimizing dependence on external programs. Currently BePorter requires the following:

  • rm (included with BeOS R5)
  • tar (included with BeOS R5)
  • unzip (included with BeOS R5)
  • patch (included with BeOS R5)
  • any programs used for building and installing BePorts. These should be limited to:

Other dependencies should be listed in the port's BepFile.

Usage

WARNING - BePorter is currently in alpha stage. Noone should be actually using it!

Usage information can be obtained by invoking BePorter with the -h option: 

$ beporter -h
usage: beporter [options] portname[-portversion]

options:
  --version      show program's version number and exit
  -h, --help     show this help message and exit
  -p, --nopatch  don't patch the sources, just download and unpack
  -b, --nobuild  don't build the port, just download, unpack and patch
  -i, --install  also install the port (the default is to only build)
  -c, --clean    clean the working directory of the specified port

Note that this information may become obsolete as new versions of BePorter might add or remove command line options.

When passing only a port name to BePorter, it will return the port versions available, if any.

To fetch, patch and build a port, both the port name and the port version need to be specified, separated with a hyphen. By default, BePorter will not install the port. You need to specify the --install (or -i) option for that.