Editing Portal:FreeBSD,OpenBSD,etc (section)

=== The perl5 category and p5-* ports ===

FreeBSD has a dedicated `perl5` virtual category in the Ports Collection. The FreeBSD Porter's Handbook describes the `perl5` category as “Ports that require Perl version 5 to run.”<ref>FreeBSD Project, “FreeBSD Porter's Handbook,” https://docs.freebsd.org/en/books/porters-handbook/book/, accessed July 3, 2026.</ref>

Perl module ports are commonly named with the `p5-` prefix. For example, a CPAN module such as `DBI` would normally appear as a FreeBSD port named something like `p5-DBI`. This naming convention makes Perl modules easy to find and distinguishes Perl module packages from applications written in Perl or from non-Perl libraries.

This approach gives FreeBSD a bridge between CPAN and the FreeBSD package system. A Perl user can install modules directly from CPAN, but a system administrator often prefers FreeBSD packages because they are tracked by `pkg`, upgraded through normal package workflows, and built against the FreeBSD ports framework.