## Using pbulk to create a pkgsrc binary repository

*pkgtools/pbulk* package consists in a set of tools designed to ease
mass-building of *pkgsrc* packages, and the creation your own *pkgsrc* binaries
repository.

Its setup needs a bit of work, here is how to prepare and run your bulk-build
box. In this article we will only consider a one-node machine.

This documentation is based on the [The pkgsrc Guide](http://netbsd.org/docs/pkgsrc/bulk.html).

### Prerequisites

These are the prerequisites needed by *pbulk*:

* A *pkgsrc* source tree
* Possibly a *src* source tree, only some rare packages needs it. If you choose not to checkout *src*, simply create a */usr/src* directory so *mksandbox* (see below) doesn't complain about non-existing directory.
* Possibly (not mandatory) a tool like *misc/screen* or *misc/tmux* as the full build process can take a **very** long time.

For example, to prepare a *pkgsrc-2011Q3* bulk build:

	# cd /usr
	# cvs -d anoncvs@anoncvs.netbsd.org:/cvsroot co -rpkgsrc-2011Q3 pkgsrc

Avoid automatic update of *pkgsrc* tree (cron or such), if you're in the middle of a build, it could lead to unfortunate results.

### Prepare a chroot

In order to isolate the bulk build, it is advised you run all the operations
within a *chroot*. Running *pbulk* on your real environment would wipe all
of your installed packages, and would modify your base system with lots of
directories, users and groups you don't need.

Fortunately, a tool called *mksandbox* will simplify this process. *mksandbox*
is located in the *pkgtools/mksandbox* package, and it is called like this:

	# mksandbox [optional flags] /path/to/sandbox

For example, to create a sandbox in */home/bulk* without the X11 system, run:

	# mksandbox --without-x /home/bulk

This command will prepare and mount most of the needed directories, and will
place a shell script on top of the sandbox filesystem called *sandbox*. This
script is used to *mount*/*umount* your sandbox. It is a good idea to add
*/var/spool* to the list of directories mounted as read/write in your sandbox
so the email report is actually sent. Simply add:

	/var/spool /var/spool rw \

to the list of directories in the *sandbox* script. *sandbox* script use is
really straightforward:

	# /path/to/your/sandbox/sandbox umount

Unmounts the sandbox

	# /path/to/your/sandbox/sandbox mount

Mounts the sandbox

### Prepare the pbulk environment

Now that our sandbox is available and mounted, we will chroot to it by executing
the *sandbox* script without any parameter specified:

	# /path/to/your/sandbox/sandbox

Create pbulk user (a Bourne style shell must be used)

	# useradd -s /bin/sh pbulk

In a file, set the preferences to use when building packages (mk.conf fragment).
Here is a sample mk.conf.frag file:

	SKIP_LICENSE_CHECK=             yes
	ALLOW_VULNERABLE_PACKAGES=      yes

	PKG_DEVELOPER?=         yes

	WRKDIR=                 /tmp/work

	# site specific changes

	PKG_OPTIONS.irssi=      perl inet6
	PKG_OPTIONS.mplayer=    oss

	DSPAM_STORAGE_DRIVER=   mysql
	PKG_OPTIONS.dspam+=     graphs
	PKG_OPTIONS.dovecot=    ssl ldap dovecot-sieve dovecot-managesieve
	PKG_OPTIONS.nagios-nrpe=ssl tcpwrappers

	X11_TYPE=               modular

Deploy and configure pbulk tools

	# sh /usr/pkgsrc/mk/pbulk/pbulk.sh -n -c mk.conf.frag

*pbulk* configuration file is */usr/pbulk/etc/pbulk.conf*.
You may want to review and customize some parameters like
"base_url" and "report_recipients".

Also, in order to avoid hangs, it might be a good idea to add the following to the top of *pbulk.conf*

	ulimit -t 1800 # set the limit on CPU time (in seconds)
	ulimit -v 2097152 # limits process address space

### Running the build

Now that everything's in place, we can fire up the build from the *chroot* using
the following command:

	# /usr/pbulk/bin/bulkbuild

It is recommended to run the build inside a tool like *misc/screen* or
*misc/tmux* as it will take a lot of time.

If the build is stopped, it is possible to restart it by invoking:

	# /usr/pbulk/bin/bulkbuild-restart

### Hints

If you'd like to rebuild a single package, use the *bulkbuild-rebuild* command followed by the package name.