<div dir="ltr"><div>I've subscribed to the mailing list just to post this. This is in response to <a href="https://lists.macports.org/pipermail/macports-dev/2025-January/046014.html">https://lists.macports.org/pipermail/macports-dev/2025-January/046014.html</a>, which I noticed because Tiger support has been ripped out of macports-base in <a href="https://github.com/macports/macports-base/commit/fe87793b8e5bb4a05bc432a3c3b17b3fb870b0c7">https://github.com/macports/macports-base/commit/fe87793b8e5bb4a05bc432a3c3b17b3fb870b0c7</a>.</div><div><br></div><div>I think dropping support for Tiger in this way is quite heavy-handed. I'd like to ask for a compromise, where Tiger stuff is maintained on a volunteer best-effort per-issue basis rather than entirely ripped out.</div><div><br></div><div><div>I understand that maintaining Tiger causes some overhead. Only a subset of packages build on
Tiger and that's OK. Trac issues can be closed as wontfix or ignored until somebody volunteers to fix them. Breaking Tiger accidentally shouldn't block anyone but please do not
break it deliberately. <br></div><div></div><div><div><br></div><div>Moreover, I think porting to Tiger has recently become much easier because of 2 things:</div><ol><li>gcc14 is now the default for Tiger
less than 2 months ago. A modern compiler makes many previously used hacks unnecessary. <a href="https://github.com/macports/macports-ports/pull/26655">https://github.com/macports/macports-ports/pull/26655</a></li><li>There has been incredible progress in legacy-support for Tiger, merged today. This brings Tiger much closer to modern macOS SDK, and makes . <a href="https://github.com/macports/macports-ports/pull/27619">https://github.com/macports/macports-ports/pull/27619</a></li></ol><div>These two changes make it much easier to support Tiger.</div></div><div> </div></div><div>I'd like to also share this <a href="https://github.com/macports/macports-base/commit/fe87793b8e5bb4a05bc432a3c3b17b3fb870b0c7#commitcomment-152338386">comment</a> from a user on GitHub:</div><div><br></div><div><div class="gmail-markdown-body"><div class="gmail-Box-sc-g0xbh4-0 gmail-gWCxHY gmail-markdown-body"><blockquote dir="auto" class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0px 0px 0px 0.8ex;border-left:1px solid rgb(204,204,204);padding-left:1ex">It's extremely unfortunate, and I hope there is room to reconsider this decision.<br> <br></blockquote><blockquote dir="auto" class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0px 0px 0px 0.8ex;border-left:1px solid rgb(204,204,204);padding-left:1ex">There are many of us who are still end-users and
programmers on OS X Tiger, and we need MacPort's tools. Tiger was the
last MacOS to support both OSX programs and Classic Environment, so
there are many who still need or prefer it for that reason. As well,
OSX programs built on Tiger are generally also compatible with the next
couple of later versions (Leopard and Snow Leopard). So, it is also a
great system to build programs for, since they can reach a wider
audience than those that only work on Leopard or Snow Leopard.<br><br>Removing support for Tiger may also impact Leopard users.
The main OS X PowerPC web browser (TenFourFox / InterWeb / AquaFox) is
designed to build in OS X 10.4.11 and is a lifeline to many who want to
connect to the Internet with their PowerPC computer. There is also
efforts to modernize web browsing on OS X Tiger, which may be helpful
for those on later versions of OS X, but ending MacPorts would set back
such efforts greatly.<br><br>It doesn't seem like it should take a lot to just allow us
to keep downloading what's already there, let alone that those who
still develop software for Tiger may still be able to improve what's
there further and contribute the occasional patch.<br><br>Please reconsider the decision to remove support for Tiger.</blockquote><div><br></div></div></div><br></div></div>