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General Questions
When will a Universal version of MacPorts for the new Mac Intel architecture be available?
Since MacPorts supports OpenDarwin, and OpenDarwin has run on Intel platforms since Mac OS X 10.0 and prior (as NextStep or Next OS), chances are that most of the MacPorts ports will run without problem on Mac OS X Intel. Binary installation of MacPorts on Mac OS X Intel is available since the 1.2.1 release. If you encounter a port that will not work on Intel: This is a bug! Problem is, that many projects need some time to adopt to the new platform and also that most of our developers do not own a Intel-Mac (donations welcome ;)).
Why is /opt/local the default install location for MacPorts?
/opt/local
was chosen so as to avoid stomping on other various installations (e.g. fink uses /sw
to do the same); /usr/local
is not a viable choice for several reasons:
- Some software (especially auto* tools from Gnu) look in
/usr/local
as a default location, which means MacPorts can't be easily isolated when needed /usr/local
is usually reserved for the given system's admin to install items local to that system, and tends to be a bad choice to have taken over by a non-system port system- gcc considers
/usr/local
to be a standard system directory, causing (at least) the include directory to be unable to appear early in the list of include directories, and hence causing DP-installed items to be difficult to use properly for items which need them (where another version is installed elsewhere, like/usr/X11R6
)
Some responses concerning /usr/local
have been aired on the mailing list over time.
How do I search the mailing list archives?
Searchable archives of the MacPorts mailing list are available from Gmane.org at http://dir.gmane.org/gmane.os.opendarwin.darwinports.
How do I remove or uninstall MacPorts?
MacPorts can be removed by issuing the following command from within Terminal:
sudo rm -rf /opt/local /Applications/DarwinPorts /Library/Tcl/darwinports1.0 /Library/StartupItems/DarwinPortsStartup
Please note that this command removes all software installed using MacPorts as well as MacPorts itself. This includes configuration files for any ports which were installed; if you need to keep them, back them up before the rm (they should be in /opt/local/etc
).
I just installed MacPorts 1.2 from the .dmg and I seem to have lost all my installed ports (aka Cisco VPN ate my MacPorts!)
This issue has been resolved in 4.9. The VPN client installs itself in /private/opt
When you install the latest CiscoVPN Client it copies all the files in /opt
to private/opt
, deletes the files in /opt
and replaces them with a link from /opt
to /private/opt
(and taking a long while to do it). The MacPorts .dmg installer overwrites this link and leaves the /private/opt/local
no longer "connected" to MacPorts. (If you wondered why it took Cisco VPN 4.7 forever to install, this would be the answer, BTW.)
One possibility is to rename the newly installed /opt
to /opt2
(and later delete it) and then move /private/opt
to /opt
and then reinstall MacPorts 1.2 from the .dmg.
Another possibility is to munge the dumbass Cisco VPN installer preprocessing script to not do that before you install Cisco VPN. You then need to modify one other file after the Cisco installation so that it can find a command line tool it's looking for. Unfortunately, I'm now fuzzy on the exact details.
Best of all worlds is to avoid using Cisco VPN. With Cisco's keenly brilliant engineering power amply demonstrated in their installer scripts, do you really want them running a kernel extension, fer crissake?
$ ls -l /op* lrwxr-xr-x 1 root admin 12 Dec 5 12:44 /opt -> /private/opt $ sudo mv /opt /opt2 $ sudo mv /private/opt /opt $ ls -l /op* total 0 drwxr-xr-x 3 root wheel 102 Nov 17 23:46 cisco-vpnclient drwxr-xr-x 13 root wheel 442 Dec 5 19:56 local
What are the folders in `${prefix}/var/db/dports/ for and why do they take up so much space?
man porthier
says: "MacPorts runtime data", but it contains some more subfolders:
build
Is used during the building of ports, usually it contains only empty folders, does not take much space. During the building of a port there is a soft link
${prefix}/var/db/dports/sources/rsync.rsync.darwinports.org_dpupdate_dports/<category>/<port>/work
pointing to the corresponding folder here.
distfiles
The downloaded sources of each built port, could be removed with
port clean --dist <port>
.
packages
Containing the binary archive of each installed port. Could be removed with
port clean --archive <port> <version>+<variant>
. These files are helpfull for uninstalling and later reinstalling the exact same ports (eg. for testing something). Only unpacking the archive is needed and no build will be performed. If these archives are never needed they can be disabled in${prefix}/etc/ports/ports.conf
with theportarchivemode
option.
receipts
Contains detail information about each installed port, eg. which files belong to the port with corresponding checksums.
software
Contains the installed software itself. If a port is activated its files are hard links in the
${prefix}
folders to the corresponding files here.port uninstall <port> <version>+<variant>
would remove it from here, but then this port can not be used anymore.
sources
In the subfolder
rsync.rsync.darwinports.org_dpupdate1
are the MacPorts sources themselves (e.g., for the port(1) command). Aport selfupdate
updates this form the OpenDarwin rsync server. In the subfolderrsync.rsync.darwinports.org_dpupdate_dports
are folders for each port category and the ports themselves therein, where the corresponding Portfile and patches are found.port sync
and alsoport selfupdate
update this from the OpenDarwin rsync server.
I get Error: checksum (md5/sha1/rmd160) mismatch for port
. What can I do about it?
MacPorts computes checksums of downloaded files to ensure they aren't corrupted and haven't been tampered with. Each portfile lists the checksums for the files that the port will download (using md5, sha1 or rmb160). If the computed checksum of the downloaded file doesn't match the one listed in the portfile, that means the file you downloaded is not the one the port designer used when creating the port, and so MacPorts stops the installation.
The first thing you should do if you get a checksum error is update your ports with sudo port sync
— can you install the port now? If so, it means somebody else encountered the same checksum mismatch before and already fixed it.
If updating doesn't help, then you should attempt to discover why there is a checksum mismatch. There are several possible reasons:
- The file is corrupt. If it was corrupted by the transfer, download it again (
port clean --dist <portname>
andport install <portname>
). If it is corrupted on the server, there is not much you can do about it. Open a bug in Bugzilla and assign it to the port's maintainer. As for solving the problem: if there are other mirrors, try one of them. You can also ask if someone has a complete file they can send you on the MacPorts mailinglist. - The developer has performed a "stealth upgrade". Sometimes upstream developers make "stealth upgrades" in which they change the contents of their distribution archive but not its version number, without informing MacPorts of this change. Perhaps the developer has repackaged the distribution with a different archiving program, or has fixed typos in the included documentation or made other presumably minor changes that did not warrant a regular release. This practice is not recommended because of the obvious difficulties it presents to MacPorts and other port systems that compute package checksums. Attempt to get confirmation from the developer of the software that this has occurred. If the developer cannot be reached, attempt to determine yourself whether a stealth upgrade has happened. Search the Internet and try to locate the older version of the archive that matches the checksum in the portfile. Also download the version currently available on the developer's site, extract both, and compare the contents (for example with
diff -r -u <old> <new>
). If the changes look minor and benign, or there are no changes at all, then it is safe for you to update the checksum in the portfile, and the port maintainer should be informed of this so that they can make the change official. If you cannot determine whether a stealth upgrade has taken place, ask for help on the mailing list. - The file has been tampered with. It is perhaps somewhat unlikely yet theoretically possible (and it has happened a few times in practice) that the archive being distributed by the developer (or by a mirror) has been genuinely compromised. If a hacker was able to manipulate the developer's (or the mirror's) server, the hacker could have uploaded a revised archive containing malware (a virus, a trojan horse, a spam-sending platform, etc.) of the hacker's choosing, and you would certainly not want to install such software. You must attempt to determine, as above, whether this has occurred by contacting the developer, or by locating an older version of the archive and comparing them. You can also contact the port maintainer or the mailing list.
Where can I find a GUI frontend for MacPorts?
Try DPGUI
Software Questions
When I install the port of PHP 5, MacPorts wants to install Apache 1.3 even though I use Apache 2. What do I need to do?
Use "variants." The command port variants <portname>
(where portname is the port in question) lists available build variations that support differences you may desire. For instance, to install PHP 5 for use with Apache 2 and MySQL, you'd type port install php5 +apache2 +mysql
.
When I try to run my compiled DarwinPort, it fails with an error like Cannot load /opt/local/apache2/modules/libphp5.so into server: Symbol not found: __cg_jpeg_resync_to_restart
. What's wrong?
It's a bug; Bug 3013, to be exact. The bug description contains a workaround.(Note: for Apache, this should be fixed as of September 7th, 2005.)
How do I get readline support for DarwinPort's Python?
For python24, install the py-readline port!
Will MacPorts link to system libraries rather than its own?
No, MacPorts maintains its own libraries.
Why is MacPorts using its own libraries?
There are several reasons to do so. First, it makes ports more compatible across different versions of Darwin/OS X. If we can rely on e. g. openssl 0.9.8 from MacPorts, we don't have to test every port that needs ssl for every available openssl installation. Apple's software tends to break from time to time (e. g. openssl refuses to build with an old zlib, but Apple shipped the old headers of the vulnerable zlib version). Third reason is up-to-dateness: Apple only features e. g. Python 2.3, not 2.4, with which some software does not work. The drawbacks on this behaviour also are minimal: Wasting 10MB for a Python installation is next to nothing if you have a GB-harddisk and gain consistency all the way in return.
GNOME has an empty menu
See the GNOME? section of this Wiki for more information.
Portfile Development and Maintenance Questions
Is it possible to have a dependency on a specific variant of another port? E.g. "postgresql8 +server"?
No. The current state of the dependency engine is unable to handle specifying anything beyond "port X requires port Y" or "port X requires a file which can be provided by port Y." There have been discussions on revamping the engine (see the mailing list archives) but nothing concrete as yet. This is why the most useful variants really shouldn't be variants at all but rolled into the port itself.
Why won't portindex
work? I have a local repository set up
Your local repository needs the ports to be nested within a category for portindex to work. The Documentation needs to be updated to reflect this requirement.
What is the process for becoming a committer?
The process is pretty much the same as for any other open source project. See this email to the MacPorts mailing list which is more specific. Also have a look at the New commiters guide for what commit access to MacPorts entails.
Runtime Errors
I try to disable a variant, but it just informs me of the proper usage for the port
command
When using
port <command> <portname> -<variant>
the dash in the command is going to be interpreted as an option, hence getting the usage message. It needs to be escaped away with a double-dash:
port <command> <portname> -- -<variant>
When uninstalling a port I get an error like port uninstall failed: invalid command name "portuninstall::uninstall"
. What's going on?
This is a known error caused by left overs from old MacPorts installations, specifically the ${prefix}/share/darwinports/Tcl/port1.0/portuninstall.tcl
file that is no longer in the MacPorts source code (${prefix}
expanding to whatever path was chosen upon initial installation of MacPorts, /opt/local
by default).
However, a reinstallation of the infrastructure (most commonly through port selfudpate
) does not remove this file and therefore manual intervention is needed:
rm -f ${prefix}/share/darwinports/Tcl/port1.0/portuninstall.tcl port -f selfupdate
These steps will remove the stray file and force a rebuild of the infrastructure, overriding the release number comparison done by "selfupdate" between the local copy and the one on OpenDarwin servers. If this workaround does not clear the problem for you, please refer to the main mailing list with as much information as possible.
Be sure you have the latest MacPorts before removing
portuninstall.tcl
. I had the same problem that I couldn't uninstall ports and so I first ran asudo port selfupdate
to get the latest version of MacPorts and removed the tcl file afterwards. But when runningsudo port -f selfupdate
it gave me this error message:Failed to initialize ports system, couldn't read file "/opt/local/share/darwinports/Tcl/port1.0/portuninstall.tcl": no such file or directory
and stopped working.