Here is an example of a single FreeBSD port in 3 terminals in the screenshot. The ncurses menu on the left shows the menu after
make config
is run from the port directory. You can see the graphics/blender directory and a few files, including the Makefile in the top right terminal. In the bottom right terminal, there's contents of a Makefile, which can be seen by using the less
command. There's more, because there's 2 other Makefiles which are part of the main Makefile, but they're all covered by the command that shows the menu on the left.There's more options and dependencies not shown from two of the terminals, because it all doesn't fit on the screen. To see more, try the commands, and scroll down. The terminal on the top right shows the port directory and it's contents, where Makefiles and other important porting files are listed.
The Makefile shows the version number that it seeks to download, and it shows official compressed source file download site of blender.org and its identical mirrors.
To get the screen on the left, type
make config
. To set that and all of the dependencies of it, type make config-recursive
.Running
make; make install
will download these and all of its dependencies' compressed source files, then build and install them all according to required dependencies plus the selected choices.For users to choose what they want, those are the options and a showing of commands to install it from source which are simple to use. In this example, 3.1.2 is the latest stable release from Blender.
To get a newer version, making a new directory with similar files can be adjusted to do that, and add other options, that the user can choose from to build is a more complex task for a new Makefile and Port directory. That requires the Porter's Handbook. Other BSD's and Gentoo Linux also use a ports system. Ports isn't packages, but ports builds custom user packages.
Something as demanding as a nightly install will require maintainership from the organization that develops the software, because that would be a daunting endless task for a volunteer. The existing port of Blender is exceptional and well maintained.