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System Configuration—Software PackageManagementFreeBSD is well-known for its efficient package management system. From a systemadministrator's point of view, these features are extremely time-saving. Using theFreeBSD ports and package management tools, system administrators do not have todeal with the manual software installation and hence avoid the dependency pitfall.Using software package management facilities available in FreeBSD, installing andupgrading software has turned from a painful process into an entertaining task.FreeBSD also has a rich library of available software applications and utilities. Withthese ready–to-install software packages (about 17,000 (and counting)), you willhardly find a *nix-based software which is not available in the FreeBSD'sports system.Basically, FreeBSD offers two different ways to install a package. Package systemoffers an easy way to get and install precompiled software packages in the binaryform. Ports system is a method to download the software source code and build thefinal package from the source on your computer. Each method has its pros and cons,which are discussed in this chapter.In this chapter, we will cover the following:• Ports and packages• Packet management tools—portupgrade and portmaster