I dont think theyre a solved problem yet. Strangely enough the ports system appears to be too flexible. Which one should I be using in 2013 to install packages - pkg_add, pkgng, portmaster, portupgrade, running make install from within the ports source tree? Could someone who knows more about FreeBSD than I do comment on whats state of the art in terms of installing / upgrading packages?
ports - `cd /usr/ports/mail/postfix && make install` compiles postfix from source, as an example. It allows you tremendous and easy control over compile time options. No hunting down just the right package for the features you need. No waiting for some long lost maintainer to update their package. Everything is compiled against the libraries you have installed.
pkg_add - Installs a binary package that someone else compiled directly from the port. Fast and easy. These may lag behind a little bit behind bleeding edge, and you don't get to choose compile-time options. You can (mostly) mix and match software installed from pkg_add and ports.
pkgng - is the new binary package management system. It is pretty great, but still teething a bit. PC-BSD is offering the most up to date pkgng style package repository was twice-monthly updates. You have to set your system up as old style package (still default) or the new pgkng, and you can't mix and match different package types.
portmaster - is a software upgrade tool, and I think the most popular at this time. It just uses the ports tree (or optionally packages) to do the magic.
portupgrade - the former favorite, works much like portmaster to upgrade software (and perform other tricks) on top of the ports/packages system.
poudriere - Another ports upgrade tool. It has many fans. Harder for Americans to spell.
At this time, I would recommend using ports to install things, and portmaster for upgrades. Keep your eye on pkgng as the package repositories come up to speed and the supporting tools (portmaster, etc) mature their support for the new format.
poudriere isn't a ports upgrade tool (afaik), it's a tool to roll your own binary package repository. It's mostly useful for building a pkgng repository, since there wasn't any official one out.
