Configuring the ports package manager recommended?

[technossomy]

Dear all

I have a few programs I frequently use and that I would like to be included in the ports package manager. Is manually configuring the *BSD package manager recommended? A few considerations:
- It would alleviate pains in creating a script that could be distributed across machines/users instead
- If a new release of the program comes out, does the package manager need to be updated manually too or can this be automated somehow? Regex perhaps?
- Are there any stability issues reported/experienced after having configured the package manager?

Thanks in advance

Tech

[cipherus]

i have no idea what you are saying in this post... heh

[anomie]

I thought it was just me. The question totally lost me.

technossomy, could you explain the basic goal you're trying to accomplish?

[technossomy]

Apologies for the confusion. Example: program XYZ is publicly available from ftp://url_xyz and I would like to include it in a standard install. I could build from source every time I need it, but perhaps there is a point in incorporating XYZ in the package manager. Which scenario is recommended?

[cipherus]

this might be of some use to you:

http://lists.freebsd.org/pipermail/f...er/036772.html

you should be able to build your own package right into the ports tree (using the other packages as reference).. but this is not something i've done.

[technossomy]

Thanks, that definitely helps. So this approach is portable? Ie, can be distributed across machines and/or can be maintained centralised?

Thanks in advance

[cipherus]

yes, i'm sure there's a way you can have a local computer act as the rsync host for fetching ports. i have never done it though, as i don't have enough freebsd boxen at home to make it worthwhile.