<html><head></head><body style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; -webkit-line-break: after-white-space; "><br><div><div>On 2018-01-11, at 12:28 AM, Jan Stary wrote:</div><blockquote type="cite"><div><font class="Apple-style-span" color="#000000"><br></font></div><div><font class="Apple-style-span" color="#000000"><br></font>Does anyone now? If my port requires (say) python (any python),<br>what is the right way to say that? (In some cases, having<br>/usr/bin/python is just fine.)<br><br></div></blockquote><br></div><div>MacPorts tries to undertake the principle of reproducible builds <<a href="https://reproducible-builds.org/">https://reproducible-builds.org/</a>>.</div><div><br></div><div>A port is built as much as possible the same way on every system and issues are more easily debugged. Specifying a fully determined version of python or perl helps to remove the issue of different versions building the software differently.</div><div><br></div><div>In the main, port submissions are required to have a fully spec'd version of python or perl for this reason -- a version that is verified to work correctly, and consistent across all builds. If you were managing a system of 20,000 ports and users of all different skill levels, you would eventually come to the same conclusion.</div><div><br></div><div>In simple cases, it might be allowed to slide.</div><div><br></div><div>K</div><br></body></html>