Removing variants

[Joshua Root]

David Evans wrote:
> Using the trunk version of MacPorts, I have seen a lot of the following
> type of error message recently.
> 
> Warning: Skipping upgrade since libiconv 1.12_2 >= libiconv 1.12_2, even
> though installed variant +darwin_8 does not match . Specify -f to force
> upgrade.
> 
> This is a consequence of removing an existing variant without changing
> the version or incrementing the revision.  (This phenomenon is
> not restricted to libiconv -- libiconv is just the most recent occurrence.)
> 
> Since it seems desirable to upgrade the port in this circumstance so
> that the installed variants match the current port variants, I would like
> to suggest that at least the revision number be incremented when
> removing a variant so that a forced operation is not required.

The rule for bumping the revision is the same whether a variant has been
removed or not: do it if and only if the files installed by the port
have changed. If the removed variant only did something like setting MDT
for pre-1.7 compatibility, then there is no need to bump the rev.

- Josh