perl5 variants (was: #68635: meld port depends on a nonexistent p5.36-xml-parser port)

[Ken Cunningham]

MacPorts current "default" perl is perl5.34.

I tooks like you have manually installed perl5.36 and there is no need for perl 5.36, so you could uninstall that if you care to. Everything else is pegged to perl 5.34 currently, except your "perl5" port which must have manually been installed with the +perl5.36 variant to get that variant installed.

So to clean that up:

sudo port -f uninstall perl5 perl5.36

and then:

sudo port -f install perl5

and that should pick up the defaults, which you want, so you don't have to build everything all the time..




Once a year MacPorts updates it's default perl and python versions, in January if I recall the routine.

There is (AFAIK) no current method to say "just use the current latest perl all the time"... you get pegged to the one that is designated the current default when you install perl or a perl port, and thereafter you are stuck on that perl version forevermore for those ports...

So if you want to be really neat and tidy, you would keep a list (port echo requested) of what you actually wanted installed, and approximately every February or March, after the dust has settled, do a:

sudo port -f uninstall installed

and then a

sudo port reclaim

and then reinstall the things on your "requested list" -- manually, I would suggest, so you can look them over -- one by one.

If you see any gcc or llvm ports on your "requested" list probably best not to reinstall those, as the new defaults will call in the current needed versions.

Ken