Pkgin (not pidgin ;-) is a tool developed by a NetBSD developer, to conveniently handle and manage pkgsrc binary packages and is aimed to be an apt / yum like tool for managing pkgsrc binary packages. Pkgin relies on pkg_summary for installation, removal and upgrade of packages and associated dependencies, using a remote repository.
Many GNU/Linux distributions provide a convenient way of searching, installing and upgrading software by using binary archives found on “repositories”. NetBSD and operating systems relying on pkgsrc have tools like pkg_add and pkg_delete, but they are unable to correctly handle binary upgrades, and sometimes even installation itself.
Baptiste Daroussin has started porting pkgin to FreeBSD a couple of weeks ago. Although pkgin relies on pkgsrc packages (NetBSD, DragonFlyBSD), Baptiste has patched it so it can handle FreeBSD ports binaries.
Hi,
Thanks for crediting me, but I’m not the guy working on pkgin for FreeBSD – I’m not usgin FreeBSD. It’s a friend of mine, bapt, that is working on this project. You can reach him at his website http://blog.etoilebsd.net (in French). He’s the one to ask to get a status on his project.