While perusing some port stuff, as I try to figure out which port utility to use, I came across this little command - whereis. Now, I've actually used it before, when I couldn't find the md5 command (I didn't have /sbin in my PATH as a user). But I didn't realize it also searches the port tree for programs, which is pretty cool! For instance:
$ whereis firefox
firefox: /usr/X11R6/bin/firefox /usr/ports/www/firefox
$ whereis lsof
lsof: /usr/ports/sysutils/lsof
Much nicer than some of the other ways I've used to search the ports, and more inclusive, as it even tells me if I've already had it installed. My normal method for searching ports is via the Freebsd.org web page for ports. I have a Firefox quicksearch set up, so I can pop into Firefox's address bar and type 'ports lsof' and immediately do the search. It is very simple to set this up.
- Go to the Freebsd.org ports page here
- Right click on the "Search ports for: " text entry box
- Select the "Add Keyword for Search" menu item
- Give it a name (say "FreeBSD port search") and a keyword (I use 'ports' - this is what you'll type in the address bar). Select a folder to store this "bookmark". The "Quick Searches" one is a good place:-) Then click Add.
Now you can click in the address bar and type 'ports lsof' and it will immediately do the search. This is very nice and can be done with any search-type text box. See this posting on Lifehacker.com for a good starter kit for quicksearchs:
Fifteen Firefox Quick Searches
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