Pkgsrc is a powerful and portable package manager for Unix-like systems.
A package manager is a system for quickly and cleanly installing, deinstalling, and upgrading software packages.
While most package managers only work on one specific platform, and some others that advertise as "cross-platform" really only work on 2 or 3 platforms, pkgsrc is designed to work on any POSIX-compliant system. It is well-supported on NetBSD, many Linux distributions, macOS, and Solaris-based systems, but also has been used on other BSD systems and Cygwin. In the pkgsrc community, users of many different Unix-like systems all benefit directlyt from each others' work.
According to Repology, pkgsrc also has one of the larger package collections among all package managers, and it is continually growing.
The basic installation of pkgsrc, called "bootstrapping", is a somewhat involved, multi-step process. To simplify the process for new users, I created auto-pkgsrc-setup, a script that ensures your system is ready for a pkgsrc installation and then guides you through the bootstrap process.
All you need to do is download the script, run it, and follow the on-screen instructions.
The entire process takes less than 10 minutes with default options on a typical machine. Expect half an hour or more if you answer YES to all the bells and whistles (install the work-in-progress (WIP) package collection and Mozilla certs, etc.) Downloading the extensive WIP collection is often the longest part of the process.
Unlike some community repositories, pkgsrc packages are rigorously quality-controlled. Packages can only be added to the official collection by "committers", people who have proven their ability through contributions to pkgsrc over a long period of time before being invited to join the team, and then undergo a mentoring period to ensure the quality of their work before they earn their wings.
However, there is also a work-in-progress, or "WIP" collection, where community members can contribute, collaborate, and hone their skills.