Private ports/package repo

N

navles

Dear FreeBSD users,

I just started using FreeBSD and i'm currently running a few test servers to get familiar with FreeBSD. I have read a[]lot of guides and manuals but I can't seem to find any information regarding a private ports/package repo. Let's say I have a created a business application and i want to distribute it to my clients. I will install the software myself, but I'd like to keep the source for myself. And only distribute the binaries.

Is it possible to have a production servers create binaries for certain versions of FreeBSD and then on the clients add a private repo to pk2ng? So I can update my private repo from the company and the clients will automatically look for updates daily. And if I have a new client I can just install the latest version with: pkg install <package-name>.

I'd like to prevent uploading my source/package to the public repo. Is this in any way possible?

Thanks a[]lot in advance,

Navles

--EDIT--

I use a[]lot of c++ code. Would it be better to distribute the compiled c++ code or create a FreeBSD package and distribute the package?
 
Yes, that's possible. You can define multiple repositories, you can even "bind" a certain package to a single, specific, repository.
 
I would recommend creating your own port, using the FreeBSD infrastructure; see the porter's guide. You don't need to submit the port (or integrate your port with the standard ports tree) to take advantage of the package management infrastructure. A simple option would be to run make package and then just distribute the resulting binary package file, which can be installed locally (no need for your own package repository) with pkg add yourpackage.txz, though this wouldn't achieve the automatic updating you want.

To create your own package repository (or repositories), you may find the excellent ports-mgmt/poudriere useful (have a look at the Poudriere page in the handbook and the Poudriere webpage), which can also build and test ports on multiple FreeBSD versions from a single build machine. Poudriere can be used in conjunction with ports-mgmt/portshaker for integrating your own, private, ports with the main ports tree so you can host a single customised package repository rather than two (or more) separate repositories.
 
First off I would like to thank you for your quick responses. I will have a look into your suggestions, once again thanks! :)

I just started with FreeBSD (worked with Linux for ~8 years), I really love the community so far :)

The only thing I kind of miss, are high quality tutorials. Because of this I just registered a domain and am currently installing my webserver. I would love to contribute to the community and it feels like there is a lack of tutorials.

Once again thanks a lot!

I will try to contribute as much as I can.

Navles
 
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