>> The freebsd ftp sites seem to just have patch files and edited make
>> files in the ports directories.  And no pointers to the original source.
>
>You just don't know how the freebsd ports mechanism works.
>
>The makefiles contain information that allows you to just ftp the differences
>from the freebsd site, then it will automatically contact a host which hasn't
>had the corresponding version of the original source for a couple of years...
>(And in about half the cases I've tried, hasn't had ANY version of the source
>in a couple of years.)

Seeing as the FreeBSD ports collection hasn't even existed for "a couple of
years", this is blatently false.

The makefile usually tries a list of sites, including ftp.freeBSD.org as
the last site which keeps a cache of old versions.  If for some reason
you still can't get the tarball for the port, your sources for the ports
collection must be really old and you should update them.

--
Justin T. Gibbs
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  FreeBSD: Turning PCs into workstations
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