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When I install a port, I am often presented with a menu screen to select configuration options. If I'm going to install a really big package with lots of dependencies, that will be extremely inconvenient. Is there a make flag for accepting the default answers for all such prompts?

JCCyC
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3 Answers3

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Probably BATCH, described in ports(7), is what you're looking for:

# cd /usr/ports/sysutils/screen
# export BATCH=yes
# make rmconfig
# make install clean
(no configuration menu is displayed)

make rmconfig removes OPTIONS config for this port, and you can use it to remove OPTIONS which were previously saved when you configured and installed screen(1) the first time. OPTIONS are stored to directory which is specifed via PORT_DB_DIR (defaults to /var/db/ports).

If you use bash, BATCH can be set automatically every time you log in:

# echo 'export BATCH=yes' >> ~/.bash_profile
Rui F Ribeiro
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Yasir Arsanukayev
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    I prefer make config-recursive && make install clean, as it gives you all config-dialogs upfront while the actual installation will likely work unattended. – user569825 Sep 16 '12 at 11:56
  • Also, to shorten your workload required for configuration, it's often a reasonable idea to exclusively look at the options that are active by default and just consider deactivating any of those. – user569825 Sep 16 '12 at 12:01
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    Also please run make config-recursive multiple times until you stop getting new options (i.e. at least twice). Any time you change an option, it may bring in another dependency that has yet more options. – Alex Hirzel Mar 06 '13 at 15:22
  • export will only work on sh which is not the FreeBSD default shell – ajeh Aug 02 '17 at 18:10
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I think it's worth mentioning that you might not always want to do this. I seem to remember, for instance, needing to config emacs to add xft support. If you want to bypass the prompts for a single build,

make install clean BATCH=yes

will work as well.

hydo
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  • somehow works better than putting "BATCH=yes" in the front of make. Thanks. – hari Jan 18 '12 at 00:28
  • Worth noting that make install clean BATCH= has the same effect, as according to the manual for ports(7), it must only be defined. It can be set to anything or nothing at all – Harold Fischer Jun 26 '18 at 15:28
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This doesn't automatically accept defaults like you're asking, but I like the "make config-recursive" method which runs you through any options for the port you want as well as options for all dependencies. You don't have to change anything if you don't want to, but you go through all selection screens at once rather than whenever the building process arrives at them.

Once that's done, your "make install clean" should go pretty much unattended.

FreeeBSD Admin
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    As I said on @Yasir's post--make sure to run this multiple times. If you change an option which brings in another dependency, if that dependency has options to configure you won't touch it until the next run of make config-recursive. – Alex Hirzel Mar 06 '13 at 15:23
  • Personally think this should be the accepted answer. – revprez Dec 24 '16 at 23:59