diff --git a/etc/mtree/BSD.var.dist b/etc/mtree/BSD.var.dist
index 0523002340a..0293852c834 100644
--- a/etc/mtree/BSD.var.dist
+++ b/etc/mtree/BSD.var.dist
@@ -32,6 +32,8 @@
         ..
         pkg
         ..
+        ports
+        ..
     ..
     empty           mode=0555 flags=schg
     ..