Port Function to Handle OS Upgrades

[Jeremy Lavergne]

>>> sudo port clean all
>>
>> Far inferior to sudo rm -rf ${prefix}/var/macports/build
>
> How is it inferior, aside from being slower?

Well, ports that are removed or have their workdir changed are  
unaccounted for.  They'll be perpetually left behind by any index-fed  
commands.

>>> sudo port -f uninstall installed
>>
>> Again, sudo rm -rf $prefix is faster.  Especially on a G4/G5.
>
> And totally not the same thing. "sudo port -f uninstall installed"  
> uninstalls your installed ports, while leaving behind MacPorts base  
> itself AND any configuration files or databases you may have  
> created. This is the key difference. We don't want to advocate a  
> command that would cause the user to lose data.

That's a good point.  So we need to mitigate files being lost forever  
during an upgrade ... lest they be left int he tree forever.

> Also, note ports are not necessarily contained within ${prefix}.  
> Better let MacPorts uninstall the software correctly from wherever  
> it's installed.

Yes, yes. Harped on the speed thing and ignored this whole aspect.

>> The point being one step to do all this, not "how do I do all this  
>> individually and have to tell every users to do this list of steps  
>> when they're upgrading"
>
> Scott asked how to do these steps individually, so I showed him how.

Rinse lather and repeat for a few thousand users.

> Scott's saying we don't have enough documentation on how to use  
> MacPorts. You're saying users don't read the documentation we do  
> have. Is that right? If that's true, then we either need to  
> publicize the available documentation better, or simplify it so it's  
> more understandable to end users.

I'm neutral on us having enough documentation, but I definitely know  
what we do have documented doesn't get read by the majority of the  
user base.

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