Installer should allow installation of macport in custom locations - for users without admin access

[Joshua Root]

On 2010-7-29 17:30 , Mark Farnell wrote:
> So I think the best way is to do away with the installer and put the
> entire macport (base, ports and configuration files) within
> MacPort.app.
> 
> All the user needs to do is to include the bin path(s)  within
> MacPort.app in .bashrc
> 
> Then whenever we run "port install", port will detect the directory of
> its MacPort.app (a machine can have multiple copies of MacPort.app
> across the system) directory and install the ports correctly into its
> own MacPort.app

I wouldn't expect someone who has a firm requirement for a nice
drag-and-drop app package to be running port(1) on the command line, but
sure, having a self-contained distribution of Pallet and everything it
needs to run might be nice if we ever get to the point of being
something that non-users of the command line are comfortable with.

The immediate issue with relocating base is that we autoconf in a bunch
of paths. That's fixable if someone puts in the work, so feel free to do
that.

The less immediate but possibly bigger issue is that archives are built
for a particular prefix, and most of the software available in the ports
tree is not relocatable. So when we start doing binary distribution,
anyone not using a prefix of /opt/local misses out.

- Josh