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.
More about this can be read here: EN or FR.
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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.