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I have a tiny application written in go and I've cross-compiled it to various operating systems.

Currently my Makefile generates myapp-VERSION-OS-CPUARCH.tar.gz packages to be used as a source binary packages for to be released as .deb, .rpm, PKGBUILD, FreeBSD binary release .tgz and so on with a structure like so:

bin/myapp
LICENSE
README.md

I can't find tutorials/howtos/examples on how to package this into official OpenBSD .tgz binary release package(s). pkg_create seems to be the command, but I can't find examples.

So how you make the binary release package on OpenBSD so that there's all the metadata such as maintainer, application category, architecture and such?

The idea here is not getting the package to any official ports repository. It's to simply package a release for your own machine and learning about the packaging process on OpenBSD.

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  • Maybe this will help : jmorano.moretrix.com/2016/03/ossec-building-an-openbsd-package Commented Jan 12, 2020 at 14:04
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    I have to mention that your current working seems to indicate that your application is close source. Commented Jan 12, 2020 at 23:22
  • @OlegLobachev It is open source. How it relates to the question? Commented Jan 14, 2020 at 20:27
  • Because a source-based distribution seems much easier. Just let OpenBSD maintainers do their OpenBSD stuff on their own. Debain, too. Commented Jan 15, 2020 at 7:50

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The information you need is available in the Porter's Handbook (more specifically the Porting Guide therein).

The summary is that you (if you want to create an official OpenBSD port) would not create a binary package yourself, but a port (a Makefile that slots into OpenBSD's port building infrastructure, and associated metadata files) that eventually gets accepted by the committers on the [email protected] mailing list.

After being committed, binary packages are then built, signed and distributed by the OpenBSD team using the port that you've written.

If you are not interested in building a package accessible through the official OpenBSD channels and would prefer to distribute your OpenBSD package with your software yourself, you would still have to fit it into the OpenBSD port infrastructure in the way described in the Porting Guide to be able to build that package.

How you go about building an OpenBSD port for some software is a too big topic to answer on this site. Try asking questions about specific issues that you come across while doing this instead. You could also ask on the [email protected] mailing list.

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    @Mr.Donutz I'm not sure I understand your question. Why would it make OpenBSD less open? They are an open source project developed by volunteers. They are not obliged to accept anyone's software into the ports tree just because they are open source. Commented Jan 12, 2020 at 14:45
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    It's just this impression that I got, that "it is difficult to find out how to properly build binaries for OpenBSD". Not accepting such binaries is a whole different thing and, indeed, even necessary to some extent to ensure stable operation of a "default" bundle, like Debian Stable distro does (and which is why that software is not most up-to-date). So the opportunity to build binaries that can be provided 'stand-alone' is one thing, accepting them as part of a standard package is a whole different thing. Perhaps I just need to inform myself a bit more. So thanks for linking to that guide. Commented Jan 12, 2020 at 15:13
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    @raspi No, you build your software first, then you package it. This works the same as packaging from most other systems. The ports framework is just a wrapper around whatever build system your software would ordinarily use to build. You may want to look at other port that build software written in Go, for example sysutils/restic (a backup program). Commented Jan 12, 2020 at 16:10
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    @Mr.Donutz Just building binaries on OpenBSD is easy. It's after all just a Unix like any other. Producing binary bundles of software that anyone can install on their system using the package manager requires that you package it with the tools provided for that end. In OpenBSD's case, that means writing a port. On macOS running Homebrew, it means writing a "formulae" in Ruby. Etc. To make the packaged software part of an official repository, you would have to convince someone to commit it. Commented Jan 12, 2020 at 16:19
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    @mosvy It is not. And it's unlikely to end up in the base system any time soon. It's available as port/package though. Commented Jan 12, 2020 at 23:50

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