So many formats, So few packages

[Rainer Müller]

On 2011-04-11 23:48 , Jordan K. Hubbard wrote:
> I don't know what Jeff is doing with UUIDs (probably something
> unnatural ;-) ) but I can say something about how they're used in Mac
> OS X.   They're basically signed in to binaries using the codesign(1)
> command (see -i flag) and uniquely identify that binary from the
> perspective of ongoing continuity.  Let's say, for example, that the
> binary has some keychain items associated with it.  The UUID ties the
> application to the keychain items such that when you update the
> binary, as long as you use the same identity, the updated version of
> application FOO version BAR can still use the keychain items (without
> an authorization prompt) from FOO version BAR - 1.   That's not the
> only thing UUIDs are used for, but it's probably the easiest scenario
> to explain.

Okay, speaking of keychain items, firewall rules or similar this makes
sense. I understand what it is used for, I was a bit confused by what
Jeff described.

But reading up in the man page codesign(1), the identifer does not need
to be a UUID, but a simple unique string. So for us,
"org.macports.$portname" should be good enough or we could derive a
prefix from the ports tree URL of the Portfile. Or at least use this as
a default and add a new "id" field to Portfiles in case we have to
rename ports.

Rainer