pkgsrc
Hacker ApprovedRanked 13 of 35 package managers by recommenders
pkgsrc is a portable package manager that runs on many operating systems, builds the same recipes across 20+ platforms, and allows unprivileged installs.
pkgsrc is a portable package manager that runs on many operating systems, builds the same recipes across 20+ platforms, and allows unprivileged installs.
22 people gave an opinion
- recommend it
- 21
- criticize it
- 1
- approval share
- 95%
Recommended in 9 of 13 months
- November 2025: recommended
- December 2025: recommended
- January 2026: recommended
- February 2026: recommended
- March 2026: recommended
- April 2026: not recommended
- May 2026: not recommended
- June 2026: recommended
- July 2026: not recommended
- August 2026: recommended
- September 2026: recommended
- October 2026: recommended
- November 2026: not recommended (month in progress)
Why it carries the badge
- 21 people recommend itNeeds 10 or more, met.
- 21 recommenders for every criticNeeds 2 to 1 or better, met.
- Recommended in 9 of 13 monthsNeeds 4 or more, met.
The same three rules apply to every product, and the badge can’t be bought. How the badge works
What people say about it
The reasons people give, with the number of comments that give each one. Open a reason to read what they said.
Why people recommend it
Each mark is one comment
Runs on many operating systems
“pkgsrc probably is one of NetBSDs biggest impacts being using by lots of other OSs from Minix to illumos.”
Comment from 2 Aug 2026 in “NetBSD 11.0 Released” “The ability to run recent packages on most arch without them forcing you to use NetBSD”
Comment from 14 Sep 2026 in “Pkgsrc Is Cool (2022)” “I'm using pkgsrc on illumos (Tribblix). So, "of course it runs pkgsrc", also.”
Comment from 2 Aug 2026 in “NetBSD 11.0 Released” - Comment from 10 Nov 2025 in “Using bubblewrap to add sandboxing to NetBSD”
- Comment from 20 Feb 2026 in “A header-only C vector database library”
Core package manager of NetBSD
“won me over with the NetBSD pkgsrc package manager... Very nice.”
Comment from 21 Jan 2026 in “SmartOS” “pkgsrc is one of the strong points of NetBSD”
Comment from 28 Oct 2026 in “AlpineBSD” Simple and easy to start
“pkgsrc is relatively simple to comprehend, and easy to get started, compared to other build packaging solutions”
Comment from 14 Sep 2026 in “Pkgsrc Is Cool (2022)” “it’s extremely straightforward”
Comment from 22 Dec 2025 in “Debian's Git Transition” Better design than Homebrew
“Nix, Pkgsrc, MacPorts, and (and now Spack) all have better fundamental designs”
Comment from 12 Nov 2025 in “Homebrew no longer allows bypassing Gatekeeper for unsigned/unnotarized software” “I find it so much more elegant than homebrew.”
Comment from 14 Sep 2026 in “Pkgsrc Is Cool (2022)”
Other package managers people recommend
The four most recommended other package managers, with the same counts for each, so you can compare like for like. The tick on each bar marks the 2 to 1 line the badge needs.
See all 35 package managers, rankedWhat people said
24 of the 25 comments that mention it, newest first. Each links to the original comment.
“pkgsrc is one of the strong points of NetBSD”
“ports systems like homebrew, macports, pkgsrc, etc. are a decent option”
“Cannot complain, have had zero reason to revisit that decision ever since.”
“I find it so much more elegant than homebrew.”
“pkgsrc is relatively simple to comprehend, and easy to get started, compared to other build packaging solutions”
“Yes, I really like pkgsrc.”
“For a package with dependencies (that you don't already have), quite a bit of value.”
“The ability to run recent packages on most arch without them forcing you to use NetBSD”
“Pkgsrc is good for development tools and terminal apps”
“pkgsrc probably is one of NetBSDs biggest impacts being using by lots of other OSs from Minix to illumos.”
“I'm using pkgsrc on illumos (Tribblix). So, "of course it runs pkgsrc", also.”
“I've personally used it as the basis of my user space packaging system on a Linux From Scratch distribution I made during the pandemic and the results were awesome.”
“it explicitly allowed for unprivileged installation to a prefix of your choice”
“pkgsrc shows me what it will do before it does anything”
“This is why having a NetBSD and pkgsrc mirror is my approach to collapse computing”
“pkgsrc runs on 20+ platforms with the same build recipes.”
“I still compile software for i386 from pkgsrc”
“won me over with the NetBSD pkgsrc package manager... Very nice.”
“SMF is a joy to use for services and package management with pkgsrc is great.”
“it’s extremely straightforward”
“They could take a look at how pkgsrc works.”
“afaik pkgsrc is nowhere close to it”
“Nix, Pkgsrc, MacPorts, and (and now Spack) all have better fundamental designs”
“It has a package manager, pkgsrc, that runs on many other OSes”
Counts come from 1,795,640 Hacker News comments, November 2025 to November 2026. How we count. Report a mistake.