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The BSD package system is pure poetry.
Here's how it works: unlike Linux distros, the BSD teams (free, open, and net) maintain the source for more of the userland programs as well as the kernel. If you want to upgrade to the latest version, all you need to do is sync your source tree or download the source, and type 'make build' or something similar. Everything is then automagically upgraded. No dependencies, no fuss, no muss.
For the add-on software, the package system (called ports in FreeBSD) works like this: you have a /usr/pkgsrc directory. You go to the approprate directory for a piece of software and type 'make install'. The source is downloaded, compiled, and installed. Any dependencies are automatically downloaded, compiled, and installed as well. A 'make clean' cleans it all up. Alternatively, you can get pre-compiled binaries by CDROM or FTP and dependencies are installed from those when needed. A simple 'make update' will upgrade a software package...and all those that depend on it for good measure.
Debian has a system that comes close, but is not as elegantly done. No RPM hell, no using rpmfind.net to gather 10 files to install one package, nothin'. The ease of maintenance and upgrading is what made me leave Linux a few years ago. The elegance and excellent engineering of NetBSD made me stay...until I started using Windows again, for reasons that are less than clear at the moment. Probably a game or something.
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