*-devel ports

[js]

What's happen after -devel port get officially released?
are they removed from svn?

On Feb 3, 2008 9:15 AM, Ryan Schmidt <ryandesign at macports.org> wrote:
> The guide needs to say something (quite a lot, actually) about *-
> devel ports. The only thing it currently says is:
>
> "Non-port dependencies should only be used if the application or
> library can be installed by multiple ports (for example stable and -
> devel version) or if it can't be installed with MacPorts."
>
> There's a lot of room for confusion with the *-devel ports so it
> needs to be properly documented. I want to file a ticket for this
> request, but before I do, we should make sure we know what we want
> the guide to say about the topic. Let me just ramble for a bit on how
> I think *-devel ports work and how they should be used. Maybe someone
> with an official hat on can respond and say where I've got it right
> or wrong.
>
>
> *-DEVEL PORTS
> =============
>
> Some ports may have a development version available, which installs a
> pre-release version of the software, instead of a stable version. The
> name of such a port will end with the suffix "-devel", so for example
> the port php5 installs the latest released version of PHP 5 while
> php5-devel installs a development, alpha, beta or release candidate
> version. Most users will not need to use -devel ports, but if the
> latest stable version does not include a feature or bugfix that you
> need, and the latest development version does, you may want to use
> the -devel port instead.
>
> Warning: -devel ports by definition install software which is not
> necessarily of release quality and has not necessarily been
> exhaustively tested. Software installed by -devel ports may not work
> properly and should not be used in production systems.
>
> Note: MacPorts uses -devel ports for an entirely different purpose
> than some other package managers (e.g. Linux? FreeBSD? not sure). In
> those other package managers, a port foo-devel would contain the
> headers necessary for other software to link with foo. But in
> MacPorts, these headers are already part of the foo port.
>
> To create a -devel port, copy the regularly-named port and change it
> minimally to install the development version instead. Always keep the
> two ports as similar as possible. If you fix a bug, add a feature or
> make formatting changes in one port, don't forget to make the same
> changes in the other port.
>
> So that the ports can be kept similar, it's best if the regular port
> and the -devel port are maintained by the same person. Or, two
> developers can co-maintain both ports. If you would like to create
> and maintain a -devel version of a port which is maintained by
> someone else, coordinate with the other maintainer first. Invite them
> to co-maintain your -devel port, and ask if you can co-maintain their
> port.
>
> A -devel port should install software into the exact same locations
> as the regularly-named port. Thus, it is not possible to install both
> foo and foo-devel at the same time. You must pick one or the other.
>
> Sometimes a port foo-devel will install a newer version of the
> software than foo, and this is a reason why you might want to use the
> port foo-devel, to test a new version of the software before it's
> released. However, after the new version is released, foo will be
> installing a newer version of the software than foo-devel. If you
> have foo-devel installed, you will not be notified if and when a
> newer version is provided by foo. To get that newer version, you will
> need to uninstall foo-devel and install foo. (I don't especially like
> all this, but this is the way it is, so this is the way it should be
> documented. Changing this behavior should be the topic of a separate
> discussion.)
>
> No port should depend on a -devel version of a port, unless it will
> only work with the -devel version. Usually this will not be the case.
> Usually, a port will work with the current version of a port and the
> latest development version. A port wanting to accommodate this
> situation should use a different syntax for declaring the dependency.
> For example, php5 can use the MySQL libraries, but works fine with
> either mysql5 or mysql5-devel. Instead of declaring the dependency as
> "port:mysql5", php5 should depend on a specific file installed by
> both mysql5 and mysql5-devel, like this: "path:${prefix}/bin/
> mysql_config5:mysql5". This says that php5 requires the file
> mysql_config5 to exist in the MacPorts install prefix bin directory,
> and if it does not exist, then install the mysql5 port. If the user
> wishes to use mysql5-devel instead, he simply installs mysql5-devel
> beforehand, then installs php5, and php5 will recognize that mysql5-
> devel satisfies the dependency. (I know php5 does not do this yet;
> this is ticket #13469.)
>
>
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