As you probably know, a FreeBSD port consists of a Makefile, a pkg-descr file, a distinfo file, and perhaps a pkg-plist files and some patchfiles in a files subdirectory. Portlint tests whether there are any syntax or semantics problems in those port files. It does NOT verify that the port will actually build or install correctly.
Many port maintainers use tinderbox to verify that their ports build, install and deinstall correctly -- and that all prerequisites are correctly specified. But here again, the only thing being tested is the build and install process, NOT the correct behavior of the applications or libraries so installed.
It's probably not possible to write a generic test program that is appropriate for all possible ports, because they all do different things. Test engineering is not a trivial task!
If the author of the software didn't provide a test suite, you're probably going to have to content yourself with some simple "smoke tests":
- Can you start up the application without it crashing?
- Do the most common and obvious features work as expected?
- If the application has a help system, does it work as expected?
- Etc.
How much of this kind of "poking around" you do is entirely up to you. But for most ports -- especially those that are known to work on other platforms -- passing simple smoke tests like these is usually enough to give you some confidence that it's at least as bug-free on FreeBSD as it is on those other platforms.
