GUI package manager

[GreenMeanie]

I have to say one thing keeping me from using FREEBSD and others would be a lack of a standard add/remove GUI for packages.
I know everyone likes to feel all leet but freebsd would get allot more users if it made adding packages easier instead of through a terminal.
I tried the add/remove through Gnome in freebsd 8.1 and it keeps crashing.
I tried BPM and no luck installing but it does uninstall programs.

Any news if a GUI is coming out that will be standard in freebsd?

[SirDice]

I have to say one thing keeping me from using FREEBSD and others would be a lack of a standard add/remove GUI for packages.
I know everyone likes to feel all leet but freebsd would get allot more users if it made adding packages easier instead of through a terminal.
Those people should stick to PC-BSD (http://www.pcbsd.org)

[graudeejs]

you may want to try this:
http://code.google.com/p/bxpkg/

It's in early development stage......
It's developed by expl

P.S.
I don't know current state of usability

[Yampress]

try linux (ubuntu). There are graphical installers.

[avilla@]

there is also ports-mgmt/kpackagekit for kde 4... i think it's worth a try

[Bunyan]

Why do you think that a GUI package manager will make FreeBSD more attractive for casual users?
I think that FreeBSD will get more bloated.
Traditionally, *BSD has been an operating system
with a command line interface.
Graphical applications are software that has been PORTED to
the BSD platform.
This is another reason (I think) why FreeBSD doesn't have a graphical
package manager.
Your graphical package manager will be just a front-end for
the FreeBSD package management dedicated tools.
If you want *BSD you must love the terminal.

[GreenMeanie]

Tried BPM but will look at the other one.
Why don't you guys try Gentoo if you think your so leet it is stupid to tell others to leave a distro.

If you don't like the GUI don't use it but give the option to others who would want to.
I used most linux distros and that isn't the point I want to use FreeBSD so I don't want to use Ubuntu I would use Debian over that.
But thanks Killasmurf for the only one to give a real reply.
And I am not going to use KDE I hate it so that leaves out the other BSD distros.

[graudeejs]

There was that good old saying:
Shut-up and hack

P.S.
No offence

[DutchDaemon]

There's nothing 'leet' about this. FreeBSD is a non-graphical operating system, and a server operating system by design. The console/terminal is the default point of system interaction. Anything graphical can be achieved using third-party add-ons. There will likely never be any GUI tool in the base system.

[phinux]

you could try desktopbsd-tools
sysutils/desktopbsd-tools

desktopbsd-tools requires x11/kdebase3, x11/kdelibs3 libraries but it might be worth it to you.

[klanger]

desktopbsd-tools requires x11/kdebase3, x11/kdelibs3 libraries but it might be worth it to you.

+1 - if you really need gui for this task or use pkgsrc with pkgin (should work with FreeBSD, works for sure with NetBSD and DragonFlyBSD and also on mac os x).

[expl]

you may want to try this:
http://code.google.com/p/bxpkg/

It's in early development stage......
It's developed by expl

P.S.
I don't know current state of usability
Its my free time project. I had to freeze it for the summer since my work schedule became heavy and the small amount of off-work time that I had was sacrificed for social activities. Hopefully I will free up towards the end of September and continue where I left off with all the projects I am contributing to.

A bit about the project for anyone interested:

bxpkg is written from scratch (not pkgsrc based but compatible). It is divided into two parts - library that covers package management routines and GTK+ client with modern looking GUI. Its aimed to be fast and modern way to handle packages. Already the routines are faster than the clients based on pkgsrc. It only depends on GTK2 to make it as minimal as possible without spoiling eye candy.

Lots of work has already been done to make it usable (or at least it seems from first view), but there is still loads of code missing and some existing routines have to be tuned and debugged. Any help is welcome.

[kpedersen]

Why don't you guys try Gentoo if you think your so leet it is stupid to tell others to leave a distro.

Because we are happy with FreeBSD.. We tell *others* to leave a "distro". :D

L33tness aside, whilst a GUI package manager for FreeBSD could be useful to some, it is quite different to what PC-BSD offers. PC-BSD allows you to add packages which are in general a lot more like standalone applications (Akin to Windows / Mac OS X) rather than many *MANY* little small packages. AFAIK, there is nothing un-l33t about using it. It just offers a different service.

[GreenMeanie]

the ADD/REMOVE in Gnome would be great if it would stop crashing when adding ports.
I tried freeBSD 9.1 to see if they gained on that problem but same thing.
Hopefully someday they will get it working.

[UNIXgod]

teh 1337 h4x0r?

Kinda getting sick of the trolls and linuxbigots. I don't think a thread like this will help you get gnome installed or find a pretty pixel package manager to install it with.

[d_mon]

all folks arriving to bsd need this ==> http://sourceforge.net/apps/mediawiki/kports/index.php?title=Screenshots

[Ralph_Ellis]

DesktopBSD Tools is an excellent gui for package management. You can do packages and ports. It backs up your previous installation and if the new installation does not go well, it restores it. You can customize the settings or use the defaults. I have used it for years and I am very impressed.

[vermaden]

all folks arriving to bsd need this ==> http://sourceforge.net/apps/mediawiki/kports/index.php?title=Screenshots

No, they only need this: http://freebsd.org/handbook

[minimike]

You could try Gnome Package Kit with gpk-aplication or BPM for Ports. Both are very unstable. What i am missing is something like Aptitude for Ports on the Shell.
PC-BSD could not be my choice too, because it will shipped with KDE. I like OpenSource, I like Unix but after over eleven years with GNOME i dont like KDE :P

[fender0107401]

It will be very strange, if FreeBSD includes a standard GUI package management system in the userland.

[d_mon]

Until gentoo has porthole and kuroo as front-end of portage (and those really work) not like bxpkg, which is a fiasco.

http://porthole.sourceforge.net/ {gtk}

http://kuroo.org/ (qt)