**Contents**

[[!toc levels=2]]

#   Questions & Answers

##   How can I get a list of all [[basics/make]] variables that are used by pkgsrc? 


That's difficult. But you can get a very good approximation by changing to a package directory and running the following command: 
    
    
    make -dv show-var VARNAME=VARNAME \
    | sed -n 's,^Global:\([^ ]*\) =.*,\1,p' \
    | sed 's,\..*,.*,' \
    | sort -u \
    | grep ^\[A-Z\] \
    | less
    

Another possibility is to run bmake show-all. This will list many (but not all) variables. 

If you need more information about a specific variable, run bmake help topic=_VARNAME_ or have a look at [pkglint's variable definition file](https://github.com/NetBSD/pkgsrc/blob/trunk/pkgtools/pkglint/files/vardefs.go)


##   When patching a GNU-style configure script, where should I add changes? 

If you want your changes to override everything else, then look for "ac_config_files=" and put it somewhere before that line. 

##   I'm going to make incompatible changes to pkgsrc. Where should I document it? 

In the file doc/CHANGES-*. 

##   What's the difference between ${TEST}, test and [? 

There is practically no difference. All the standard options are supported on all platforms. See also [[pkgsrc/The pkgsrc portability guide#test]]. 

#   See also 

  * <http://www.netbsd.org/Documentation/pkgsrc/devfaq.html>