Making changes to portgroups

[Joshua Root]

Marcus Calhoun-Lopez wrote:
> Sometime in the future (after discussion is complete), I was hoping to commit a
> change to the perl5 portgroup based on the discussion in #16830.
> (http://trac.macports.org/ticket/16830)
> 
> I was also hoping to commit a python26 portgroup I have based on the
> discussion in #16334.
> (http://trac.macports.org/ticket/16334)

The alternative approach is <http://trac.macports.org/ticket/16723>. We
need to decide which way we want to go.

>>From on #14553, it seems that any such change would have to wait until a
> version update.
> (http://trac.macports.org/ticket/14553)

Right. We really should resolve #14553 soon, as it will make changing
portgroups much easier in future.

> Forgive my ignorance, but what is the correct and responsible procedure
> for making such a change?
> The documentation discusses how to change a Portfile, but I can not find
> any information on making changes to the base.

There isn't an official procedure for base changes. The way it seems to
go is you can just dive in and fix things that are obviously broken,
while you should open tickets for disruptive changes. Then discuss them
on the list and with other base hackers directly until a consensus
emerges that the change is OK to go in.

- Josh