version from the original authors, first make sure you have the latest

	version from the original authors, you should first ensure that you

	have the latest

	sites.  You may also use <application>CVSup</application> to keep your whole ports collection

	sites.  However, if you are working with more than a few

	up-to-date, as described in the <ulink url="../handbook/synching.html#CVSUP-CONFIG">Handbook</ulink>.</para>

	ports, will will probably find it easier to use

	<application>CVSup</application> to keep your whole ports collection

      <para>The next step is to send an email to the maintainer, if one is

	up-to-date, as described in the

	listed in the port's <filename>Makefile</filename>.  That person may

	<ulink url="../handbook/synching.html#CVSUP-CONFIG">Handbook</ulink>.

	This will have the added benefit of tracking all the ports'

	dependencies.</para>

      <para>The next step is to see if there is an update already pending.

	To do this, you have two options.  There is a searchable interface

	to the

	<ulink URL="http://www.FreeBSD.org/cgi/query-pr-summary.cgi?query">

	FreeBSD Problem Report (PR) database</ulink> (also known as

	<literal>GNATS</literal>).  Select <literal>ports</literal> in the

	dropdown, and enter the name of the port.</para>

      <para>However, sometimes people forget to put the name of the port

	into the Synopsis field in an unambiguous fashion.  In that case,

	you can try the <ulink URL="http://portsmon.firepipe.net">

	FreeBSD Ports Monitoring System</ulink> (also known as

	<literal>portsmon</literal>).  This system attempts to classify

	port PRs by portname.  To search for PRs about a particular port,

	use the <ulink URL="http://portsmon.firepipe.net/portoverview.py">

	Overview of One Port</ulink>.</para>

      <para>If there is no pending PR, the next step is to send an email

	to the port's maintainer, as shown by

	<command>make maintainer</command>.  That person may

	<literal>ports@FreeBSD.org</literal>; mail to that address

	<literal>ports@FreeBSD.org</literal>, which is just the general

	ports mailing list, so sending mail there

      <para>If the maintainer asks you to do the upgrade or the maintainer

      <para>If the maintainer asks you to do the upgrade or there is

	is <literal>ports@FreeBSD.org</literal>,

	no maintainer, then you have a chance to help out &os; by

	please make the upgrade and save the result of the

	preparing the update yourself!  Please make the changes and save

	the result of the

	<literal>ports</literal>).  If you are going to be the maintainer for the port,

	<literal>ports</literal>).  If you are volunteering to maintain the

	port,

	of your synopsis line and/or set the <quote>Class</quote> of your PR

	of your synopsis line and set the <quote>Class</quote> of your PR

	to <literal>maintainer-update</literal>.  Please mention any added or

	to <literal>maintainer-update</literal>.  Otherwise, the

	<quote>Class</quote> of your PR should be

	<literal>change-request</literal>.  Please mention any added or

	to CVS when doing a commit.  If the diff is more than about 20KB,

	to &man.cvs.1; when doing a commit.  If the diff is more than about 20KB,

      <para>Finally, please see the

      <para>Before you &man.send-pr.1;, you should review the

        Reports article for more information about how to write

        Reports article; it contains far more information about how to write

    <chapter id="changes">

    <chapter id="keeping-up">

      <title>Changes to this document and the ports system</title>

      <title>Keeping Up</title>

      <para>The &os; Ports Collection is constantly changing.  Here is

	some information on how to keep up.</para>

      <sect1>

	<title>FreshPorts</title>

	<para>On of the easiest ways to learn about updates that have

	  already been committed is by subscribing to

	  <ulink url="http://www.FreshPorts.org/">FreshPorts</ulink>.

	  You can select multiple ports to monitor.  Maintainers are

	  strongly encouraged to subscribe, because they will receive

	  notification of not only their own changes, but also any

	  changes that any other &os; committer has made.  (These are

	  often necessary to keep up with changes in the underlying

	  ports framework—although it would be most polite to

	  receive an advance heads-up from those committing such changes,

	  sometimes this is overlooked or just simply impractical.

	  Also, in some cases, the changes are very minor in nature.

	  We expect everyone to use their best judgement in these

	  cases.)</para>

	<para>If you wish to use FreshPorts, all you need is an

	  account.  If your registered email address is

	  <literal>@FreeBSD.org</literal>, you'll see the opt-in link on the

	  right hand side of the webpages.

	  For those of you who already have a FreshPorts account, but are not

	  using your <literal>@FreeBSD.org</literal> email address,

	  just change your email to <literal>@FreeBSD.org</literal>, subscribe,

	  then change it back again.</para>

	<para>FreshPorts also has

	  a sanity test feature which automatically tests each commit to the

	  FreeBSD ports tree.  If subscribed to this service, you will be

	  notified of any errors which FreshPorts detects during sanity

	  testing of your commits.</para>

      </sect1>

      <sect1>

	<title>The Web Interface to the Source Repository</title>

	<para>It is possible to browse the files in the source repository by

	  using a web interface.  Changes that affect the entire port system

	  are now documented in the

	  <ulink url="http://www.FreeBSD.org/cgi/cvsweb.cgi/ports/CHANGES">

	  CHANGES</ulink> file.  Changes that affect individual ports

	  are now documented in the

	  <ulink url="http://www.FreeBSD.org/cgi/cvsweb.cgi/ports/UPDATING">

	  UPDATING</ulink> file.  However, the definitive answer to any

	  question is undoubtedly to read the source code of <ulink

	  url="http://www.FreeBSD.org/cgi/cvsweb.cgi/ports/Mk/bsd.port.mk">

	  bsd.port.mk</ulink>, and associated files.</para>

      </sect1>

      <sect1>

	<title>The &os; Ports Mailing List</title>

	<para>If you maintain ports, you should consider following the

	  &a.ports;.  Important changes to the way ports work will be announced

	  there, and then committed to <filename>CHANGES</filename>.</para>

      </sect1>

      <sect1>

	<title>The &os; Port Building Cluster</title>

	  <para>One of the least-publicized strengths of &os; is that

	    an entire cluster of machines is dedicated to continually

	    building the Ports Collection, for each of the major OS

	    releases and for each Tier-1 architecture.  You can find

	    the results of these builds at

	    <ulink url="http://bento.FreeBSD.org/">package building logs

	    and errors</ulink>.</para>

      </sect1>

      <sect1>

	<title>The &os; Port Distfile Survey</title>

	  <para>The build cluster is dedicated to building the latest

	    release of each port with distfiles that have already been

	    fetched.  However, as the Internet continually changes,

	    distfiles can quickly go missing.  The <ulink

	    url="http://people.FreeBSD.org/~fenner/portsurvey/">FreeBSD

	    Ports distfiles survey</ulink> attempts to query every

	    download site for every port to find out if each distfile

	    is still currently available.  Maintainers are asked to

	    check this report periodically, not only to speed up the

	    building process for users, but to help avoid wasting

	    bandwidth of the sites that volunteer to host all these

	    distfiles.</para>

      </sect1>

      <sect1>

	<title>The &os; Ports Monitoring System</title>

	<para>Another handy resource is the

	  <ulink URL="http://portsmon.firepipe.net">

	  FreeBSD Ports Monitoring System</ulink> (also known as

	  <literal>portsmon</literal>).  This system comprises a

	  database that processes information from several sources

	  and allows its to be browsed via a web interface.  Currently,

	  the ports Problem Reports (PRs), the error logs from

	  the build cluster, and individual files from the ports

	  collection are used.  In the future, this will be expanded

	  to include the distfile survey, as well as other sources.</para>

	<para>To get started, you can view all information about a

	  particular port by using the

	  <ulink URL="http://portsmon.firepipe.net/portoverview.py">

	  Overview of One Port</ulink>.</para>

      </sect1>