kos-ports: KallistiOS Package Manager

Introduction

kos-ports is a package manager and repository of various useful libraries that have been ported to the Dreamcast operating system KallistiOS. These libraries include common audiovisual formats (jpg, png, mp3, ogg, mpeg), compression formats (libbz2, zlib), scripting languages (Lua, Tcl, MicroPython), gaming APIs (OpenGL, OpenAL, SDL), and more. Each port is meant to be as self-contained as possible and should build on the current version of KallistiOS. Dependency libraries will be fetched and built automatically, if necessary.

Prerequisites

KallistiOS

Users must have a KallistiOS environment set up already. This means you must have an SH4 toolchain built and have already compiled KallistiOS itself. Before attempting to build a port, make sure you have sourced your KallistiOS environ.sh file in your current terminal.

Environment

1. curl or wget are required to download packages. curl is used by default, but wget may be set as an alternative in config.mk.
2. GNU make and Bash. Other make tools and shells have not been tested and may not work properly.
3. Git and CMake may be required for some packages in the collection.
4. Python is required to validate packages. If you don't have Python and wish to skip validation, you can set this in config.mk.

Building a port

kos-ports was modelled after the FreeBSD ports collection, so some users may be familiar with the usage.

To build a port, simply enter its directory and type make install clean.

The package management scripts should fetch, unpack, patch, and build the package as well as any dependencies, then clean up files after itself. Once built, the package's headers will be available in kos-ports/include and the built library in kos-ports/lib. These paths are automatically included in your build flags if you are using the KOS Makefile system.

Using the ports tree

There are a few available make targets that can be used in each port directory:

• install: Perform all steps to download, patch, build, and install the port in question.
• clean: Clean up any dist files and intermediate build results.
• uninstall: Uninstall the port. This does not make sure dependencies are still fulfilled, so keep that in mind!
• portinfo: Print to the terminal a description and various metadata about the port in question.

Managing all ports

The following helper scripts are provided in the utils directory to perform the above operations on all ports in the tree:

• build-all.sh will install all ports.
• uninstall-all.sh will uninstall all ports.
• clean-all.sh will clean all ports.

Lesser used targets (mainly for internal use):

• version-check: Check the version of the port that is currently installed.
• depends-check: Check if all dependencies of the port are installed.
• fetch: Download dist files from upstream.
• validate-dist: Check downloaded distfiles for validity, if enabled.
• unpack: Unpack any fetched packages for the port.
• build-stamp: Build the port, but do not install it.
• clean-dist: Clean up any dist files. Does not clean build files.
• clean-build: Cleans up build files, leaving dist files in place.

Porting a new library

Porting a new library is meant to be a relatively simple task. Take a look at an existing port, such as libpng, to get an idea how the package manager works. If you need assistance, feel free to reach out using the usual support channels.