Installing Third Party Software

Hitch Hiker uses the pkgsrc framework for installing extra software on top of the base system. Contrary to what is common in the world of Linux, there is a clear distinction between the base system and all third party packages. This, in turn, allows for more developer focus on the base system and less time packaging software. This is the model followed by all of the various BSD systems, where the base system and packages are considered to be separate projects.

What is Pkgsrc

Pkgsrc is a cross platform framework for packaging and installing third party software which is developed and maintained by the NetBSD project. Currently it works on all BSD systems, Minix, Darwin,MacOS X, and Linux to name a few, across multiple architectures.

Further Reading

In addition to this chapter you are highly encouraged to read The pkgsrc guide and keep it handy as reference, as a full reference to pkgsrc is beyond the scope of this chapter.