View source for Pkgsrc

{{Short description|Package manager for Unix-like operating systems}}{{Primary sources|date=April 2024}}
{{Lowercase title}}
{{Infobox software
| name                   = pkgsrc
| logo                   = Pkgsrc.svg
| logo size              = 200px
| screenshot             =
| caption                =
| author                 =
| developer              = Alistair Crooks, Hubert Feyrer and Johnny C. Lam<ref name="10yrs-pt1">{{cite web|title=10 years of pkgsrc - pkgsrc and the concepts of package management 1997-2007 (part 1)|url=https://www.netbsd.org/gallery/10years.html#alcrooks|work=www.netbsd.org|publisher= The NetBSD Foundation|access-date=14 October 2010}}</ref>
| released               = {{Start date and age|1998|01|04}}
| latest release version = {{wikidata|property|reference|P348}}
| latest release date    = {{start date and age|{{wikidata|qualifier|P348|P577}}}}
| latest preview version =
| latest preview date    =
| operating system       = [[Unix-like]]
| platform               =
| programming language   = [[C (programming language)|C]], [[Unix shell]]
| genre                  = [[Package management system]]
| license                = [[BSD License#2-clause|BSD License]]
| website                = {{URL|https://www.pkgsrc.org}}
}}
'''pkgsrc''' (''package source'') is a [[package management system]] for [[Unix-like]] [[operating system]]s. It was forked from the [[FreeBSD ports]] collection in 1997 as the primary package management system for [[NetBSD]]. Since then it has evolved independently; in 1999, support for [[Solaris (operating system)|Solaris]] was added, followed by support for other operating systems.{{r|informit-2006}}

{{Asof|September 2025}}, pkgsrc currently contains over 29,000 packages<ref>{{Cite mailing list|url=https://mail-index.netbsd.org/netbsd-announce/2025/09/25/msg000387.html|title=pkgsrc-2025Q3 released|last=Siegert|first=Benn|date=25 September 2025|access-date=1 October 2025}}</ref> and includes most popular [[open-source software]]. It is the native package manager on NetBSD, [[SmartOS]] and [[MINIX 3]], and is portable across 23 different [[operating system]]s, including [[AIX operating system|AIX]], various [[BSD]] derivatives, [[HP-UX]], [[IRIX]], [[Linux]],<ref name=pkgsrc-linux>{{cite web |url=http://pkgsrc.joyent.com/install-on-linux/ |title=Joyent Packages Documentation - Install On Linux |publisher=[[Joyent]] |access-date=2018-10-10}}</ref> [[macOS]],<ref name=pkgsrc-osx>{{cite web |url=http://pkgsrc.joyent.com/install-on-osx/ |title=Joyent Packages Documentation - Install On macOS |publisher=[[Joyent]] |access-date=2018-10-10 |archive-date=2018-10-06 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181006125302/http://pkgsrc.joyent.com/install-on-osx/ |url-status=dead }}</ref> [[Solaris (operating system)|Solaris]], and [[QNX]].<ref>{{cite web |url=http://mail-index.netbsd.org/pkgsrc-users/2018/10/05/msg027525.html |title=Announcing the pkgsrc-2018Q3 release |last=Perkin|first=Jonathan |publisher=[[NetBSD]] |date=2018-10-05 |access-date=2018-10-10}}</ref>

There are multiple ways to install programs using pkgsrc. The pkgsrc [[Bootstrapping|bootstrap]] contains a traditional [[ports collection]] that utilizes a series of [[Make (software)|makefiles]] to compile software from source. Another method is to install pre-built binary packages via the {{mono|pkg_add}} and {{mono|pkg_delete}} tools. A high-level utility named {{mono|pkgin}} also exists, and is designed to automate the installation, removal, and update of binary packages in a manner similar to [[Debian]]'s [[Advanced Packaging Tool]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://pkgin.net/|title=pkgin, a binary package manager for pkgsrc}}</ref>

Several vendors, including [https://mnx.io MNX.io], provide [[#Packages|binary packages]] for popular operating systems, including [[macOS]] and [[Linux]].{{r|pkgsrc-osx|pkgsrc-linux}}

== Supported platforms ==
{| class="wikitable" style="margin:auto; margin:0 0 0 2em; font-size:85%;"
|-
! Platform
! Date added
|-
| [[NetBSD]]
| October 1997
|-
| [[Solaris (operating system)|Solaris]]
| March 1999
|-
| [[Linux]]
| June 1999
|-
| [[Darwin (operating system)|Darwin]] and [[macOS]]
| October 2001
|-
| [[FreeBSD]]
| November 2002
|-
| [[OpenBSD]]
| November 2002
|-
| [[IRIX]]
| December 2002
|-
| [[BSD/OS]]
| December 2003
|-
| [[AIX]]
| December 2003
|-
| [[Interix]] (for [[Windows NT]])
| March 2004
|-
| [[DragonFly BSD]]
| October 2004
|-
| [[OSF/1]]
| November 2004
|-
| [[HP-UX]]
| April 2007
|-
| [[QNX]]
| October 2007
|-
| [[Haiku (operating system)|Haiku]]
| January 2010
|-
| [[MINIX 3]]
| August 2010
|-
| [[MirOS BSD|MirBSD]]
| January 2011
|-
| [[illumos]] and [[SmartOS]]
| February 2011
|-
| [[Cygwin]]
| May 2013
|-
| [[GNU/kFreeBSD]]
| July 2013
|-
| [[Bitrig]]
| June 2015
|-
|}

== History ==
On October 3, 1997, NetBSD developers Alistair Crooks and Hubert Feyrer created pkgsrc<ref name="10yrs-pt1"/> based on the FreeBSD ports system and intended to support the NetBSD packages collection. It was officially released as part of NetBSD 1.3<ref>{{cite web|url=//www.netbsd.org/releases/formal-1.3/|title=Information about NetBSD 1.3}}</ref> on January 4, 1998. [[DragonFly BSD]] used pkgsrc as its official package system from version 1.4 in 2006, to 3.4 in 2013.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://leaf.dragonflybsd.org/mailarchive/users/2005-08/msg00347.html |first=Matthew |last=Dillon |title=PKGSRC will be officially supported as of the next release |publisher=DragonFly users mailing list |date=2005-08-31}}</ref>{{r|informit-2006}}

On 2017-09-12, a commit message policy that accommodates [[Distributed version control|DVCS]] was established by the project.{{r|dvcs}}

== Packages ==

[[NetBSD#The NetBSD Foundation|The NetBSD Foundation]] provides official, pre-built binary packages for multiple combinations of NetBSD and pkgsrc releases, and occasionally for certain other operating systems as well.<ref name=tnf-packages>{{Cite web|url=http://ftp.netbsd.org/pub/pkgsrc/packages/|title=Index of pub/PKGSRC/Packages/}}</ref>

As of 2018, several vendors provide pre-built binary packages for several platforms:

* Since at least 2014,<ref name=joyent/> [[Joyent]] has provided binary packages for [[SmartOS]]/[[illumos]], [[macOS]],<ref name=pkgsrc-osx/> and Enterprise Linux ([[CentOS]]/[[Oracle Linux|Oracle]]/[[Red Hat Enterprise Linux|Red Hat]]/[[Scientific Linux|Scientific]]).<ref name=pkgsrc-linux/><ref name=joyent>{{cite web
|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140715002720/http://pkgsrc.joyent.com/
|title=Joyent's packages, available for SmartOS/illumos, Linux, and OSX
|archive-date=2014-07-15
|access-date=2018-10-11
|url=http://pkgsrc.joyent.com/
|url-status=live
}}</ref>  Packages are provided on a [[rolling release]] basis from the [[trunk (software)|trunk]] (HEAD, in [[Concurrent Versions System|CVS]] terminology) of pkgsrc, with updates every few days;<ref name=pkgsrc-osx/> additionally, quarterly stable releases of pkgsrc for Joyent's own SmartOS are also provided (dating back to 2012Q4).<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://pkgsrc.joyent.com/packages/|title = Index of /Packages/}}</ref>

* Since 2017,<ref name=msg025383/> [[University of Wisconsin–Milwaukee]] has provided binary packages for NetBSD, [[Red Hat Enterprise Linux|RHEL]]/[[CentOS]], and [[Darwin (operating system)|Darwin]]/[[macOS]].<ref name=uwm>{{cite web
|url=http://mirror1.hpc.uwm.edu/pkgsrc/packages/sharedapps/
|title=mirror1.hpc.uwm.edu/pkgsrc/
|access-date=2018-10-11
}}</ref><ref name=uwm2>{{cite web
|url=https://uwm.edu/hpc/software-management/
|title=Software Management
|publisher=[[University of Wisconsin–Milwaukee]], [[High Performance Computing]] dept
|access-date=2018-10-11
}}</ref>  Packages are only built from the quarterly releases of pkgsrc, aiding use in [[long-term experiment]]s, where stability and [[reproducibility]] of the [[scientific method|findings]] is of the essence.<ref name=msg025383>{{cite mailing list
|url=http://mail-index.netbsd.org/pkgsrc-users/2017/08/01/msg025383.html
|title=Re: Pkgsrc binary packages now available for scientific computing
|mailing-list=pkgsrc-users
|publisher=[[NetBSD]]
|date=2017-08-01
|access-date=2018-10-13
}}</ref>

==References==
{{Reflist |refs=

<ref name= informit-2006 >{{cite web
|author= David Chisnall |date= 2006-10-06
|url= http://www.informit.com/articles/printerfriendly/655422
|title= NetBSD: Not Just for Toasters 
|publisher= [[Prentice Hall Professional]]
|website= [[InformIT (publisher)|InformIT]]
|access-date= 2019-07-25
}}</ref>

<ref name=dvcs>{{cite mailing list
|author= Thomas Klausner |date= 2017-09-12
|url= http://mail-index.netbsd.org/pkgsrc-users/2017/09/12/msg025574.html
|title= pkgsrc Commit Message Policy
|mailing-list= pkgsrc-users@
|publisher= [[NetBSD]]
|access-date= 2019-05-09
}}</ref>

}}

==External links==
{{Portal
 | Computer programming
 | Free and open-source software
 | Linux
 }}
* {{Official website}}
* [https://pkgsrc.se/ A web interface for pkgsrc]
* [https://pkgsrc.org/wip pkgsrc-wip] &ndash; a project to get more people actively involved with pkgsrc
* [https://pkgsrc.org/pkgsrcCon pkgsrcCon: An annual conference focusing on pkgsrc]
* [https://old.reddit.com/r/pkgsrc /r/pkgsrc] on [[Reddit]]

{{NetBSD}}
{{Package management systems}}

[[Category:Console applications]]
[[Category:Free package management systems]]
[[Category:Linux package management-related software]]
[[Category:NetBSD]]
[[Category:Software using the BSD license]]
[[Category:Unix package management-related software]]
[[Category:Utility software for Linux]]
[[Category:Utility software for macOS]]