From: Evan Silberman <evan@jklol.net>
Subject: Re: Forcing ports builds without X11
To: "H. Hartzer" <h@hartzer.sh>
Cc: ports@openbsd.org
Date: Tue, 09 Sep 2025 19:26:08 -0700

"H. Hartzer" <h@hartzer.sh> wrote:
> Hi ports@,
> 
> # make
> Fatal: building ports requires correctly installed X11 (in www/darkhttpd)
> *** Error 1 in /usr/ports/www/darkhttpd (/usr/ports/infrastructure/mk/bsd.port.mk:3894 '.BEGIN': @exit 1)
> 
> Is there an override to attempt building ports without X11 installed? I
> can't even build say www/darkhttpd without X11 installed, which seems
> ridiculous.
> 
> I get that as a rule of thumb it's needed for many ports, but I feel
> there ought to be some way to force it to move ahead anyway.
> 
> -Henrich

The only configuration of OpenBSD supported by the developers is when
you install all the sets, including the X sets. The ability to deselect
sets is provided as a courtesy to people trying to run on systems with
less than about 3GB of drive space. Usually when someone asks why
something doesn't work without X11, Theo threatens to put the whole base
system into one set. So, you're probably on your own.

-E