The FreeBSD Ports and Packages Collection offers an easy and consistent way of installing software packages on FreeBSD and is a very important component of the operating system as a whole.

There are currently 4726 ports with MAINTAINER set to ports at freebsd.org, which means that no one is actively maintaining them. Out of these ports, 243 (roughly 5.00%) are out of date.

If you see a port listed that you use, consider adopting it. If its out of date, consider updating it. Its an extremely simple way to start contributing back to FreeBSD. All that is really required to adopt a port is to change the MAINTAINER line in the makefile, create a unified diff and the submit a PR with the patch.

A good place to get familiar with how the ports system works is to browse through the FreeBSD Porter’s Handbook and join the freebsd-ports mailing list if you run into any problems or have any questions. Another worthwhile read is Michael W. Lucas’s article on Modifying a Port.

So, get to work.