libmport is an active project to rewrite the pkg_* tools. Some of its features include:
- Large performance improvements
- A sqlite backend
- Built as a library for ease of multiple user interfaces
- More consistent/simpler semantics than pkg_* tools
- Signed packages
- Remote package browsing
- Atomic actions
libmport is in active developement, many of the features above are still in the design phase.
Some design documents: