COMP 3000 2011 Report II:PC-BSD

Part II

Software Packaging

How is software packaged for this distribution?

   What packaging format and utilities are used?
   How can you use these utilities to get a list of installed packages?
   How do you add and remove packages?
   How extensive is the software catalog for this distribution? 

Please also include any other relevant information on the software packages associated with your distribution.

This distribution is PC-BSD. Linux package formats are the different file formats used to package software for various Linux distributions. Here in PC-BSD, it mainly uses Binary Packaging format -- pbi<ref>http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_software_package_management_systems#PC-BSD</ref>. It uses lots of graphic utilities<ref>http://www.pcbsd.org/about/pc-bsd-project/utilities</ref> to provide front-end to useful FreeBSD features, such as Software Management Utility, Virtual Environment Utility, Backup Utility, Ports Jails Utility and so on.

There is utility called Software Management (in PC-BSD version 8.2), which can get a list of installed packages, except for system packages installed during installation of this distribution, like this picture:

PC-BSD is aim to give user easy used install/remove package experience like Windows or Mac OS. The applications are installed from a simple downloaded file with graphic prompts. Software Management is also a very useful utility to find desired software and install them by clicking the link. Remove is also a simply mouse click operation. There is a website browser in the Software Management and search engine for keyword search and different catalogs for selections.

After made decision, it can downloaded the software by clicking the download link. And it will automatically download and install the packages/software.

There is also a remove button under "Installed Software" menu. Simply choose the package needed to remove, and click remove.

The software catalog for this distribution can be found in the Software Browser of Software Management. There are many selections: Archives, Astronomy, Audio, Benchmarks, Biology, CAD, Communications, Databases, Desktop Utilities, Development, E-Mail, Editors, Educational, Emulators, File Transfer & Utilities, Finance, Games, Graphics, IRC, Japanese, Java, Languages, Math, Miscellaneous, Multimedia, Network-IM, Network-Management, Network-P2P, Network-Utilities, News, Non-Port, Polish, Ports-Management, Print, Science, Security, Shells, System Utilities, Text Processing, The Warden-Inmates, Web, X11, X11-File Managers and X11-Window Managers.

There is too many packages to choose, part of catalog information can be seen from the previous picture.

Major package versions

Report on the version numbers and upstream source (URL of original source) for some of the major software packages included in your distribution as part of the standard install:

   Linux Kernel or other kernel
   libc
   X.org or other GUI foundation
   Major GUI toolkits (Gtk+, Qt, Motif, etc.)
   shell (bash, csh, etc.)
   utilities (ls, ps, busybox)
   software packaging (rpm, dpkg, etc.)
   Web browser
   email
   other packages that are key to system usage 

Choose at least 10 packages that fit into this list (you don't need to cover every category) and report the following:

   What is the vintage of the included package? How old is it, and how far is it behind the latest stable release for this package?
   How heavily has the package been modified by the distribution authors? (You'll need to figure out how to determine this.)
   Why do you think this particular package was chosen for this distribution's standard install? You may speculate, but please make an argument informed by relevant facts. 

// qliu1

X.org: version number is 11.0, release 7.5 (Oct 26, 2009) <ref>http://www.x.org/wiki/Releases/7.5</ref>. The latest stable release is X11R7.6 on Dec 20, 2010.<ref>http://www.x.org/wiki/Releases/7.6</ref>

// todetoyi

Reference

<references/>