Using -n to perform a "dry run" test installing packages from i.e. a local directory does not yield the expected results. Example: Assume a package with all its dependencies is stored in a local directory. Then: pkg_add -n package-x.y_z.tbz will report: Package dependency package1-x.y_z for package-x.y_z.tbz not found! Package dependency package2-x.y_z for package-x.y_z.tbz not found! and so on, while package1, package2 etc are also present in the same directory. In fact, pkg_add package-x.y_z.tbz would work without any problems, using the packages reported as missing by -n Fix: None. The packages can still be installed by a plain pkg_add, but using -n can lead to misleading results. How-To-Repeat: Using ports, build any package with dependencies on a FreeBSD system. Then create a binary package for it, using pkg_create -Rb pkg_create -Rb package_name-x.y_z Copy the resulting package files to another machine. Then run: pkg_add -n package_name-x.y_z.tbz Watch -n reporting the present dependencies as missing Running without -n will install the packages normally. The above behaviour does not seem to be affected by PKG_PATH values