Trick: How to get i386-only software via dports

[John Marino]

As I have previously mentioned, only ports that can be built on x86_64 
are eligible for dports.  This eliminates i386-only ports in the FreeBSD 
ports collection.

So there won't be any pre-built binaries, but if one is desperate for 
some of these i386-only ports, there may be a way.  I have ported 
"portsnap" which can be used to quickly install FreeBSD ports at 
/usr/ports.  These FreeBSD ports use /usr/dports/Mk so it's possible to 
build FreeBSD ports straight on DragonFly.  Here's any example of how to 
build i386 software from /usr/ports from source:

1) cd /usr/dports/ports-mgmt/portsnap
2) make install
3) rehash
4) portsnap fetch extract
5) cd /usr/ports/editors/e3
6) make install
7) rehash
8) e3

Not every port is going to work.  Many ports that made it into dports 
needed additional flags and/or patches, and the same may be true for the 
i386 port you attempt.  However, there's a good chance some of these 
ports build without modifications.

Also, those interested in helping to get some ports into dports can copy 
the directories from /usr/ports to /usr/dports in order to work on the 
necessary patches to pass back to us.

John