handle only subports install files

[Joshua Root]

On 2012-3-20 05:39 , Ryan Schmidt wrote:
> 
> On Mar 19, 2012, at 13:34, Ryan Schmidt wrote:
> 
>>> The other is to let users
>>> ask for the module installed for some default/recommended python version
>>> -- this part will start working once all the python24 ports are unified
>>> and the dependencies updated.
>>
>> Yes, and that's valuable... but sometimes, like in Bradley's mysql-connector-cpp, or in my VillainousStyle, there might not be a particular port that it would be appropriate to call the default.
> 
> The problem with the stub ports is they serve no purpose after they're installed; they just clog up the "port installed" list and make it harder to later uninstall software. Users might "sudo port install py-foo", which will automatically install py2X-foo (which they might not even notice if they're not paying close attention). Then later the user might expect "sudo port uninstall py-foo" to uninstall it, but it won't uninstall py2X-foo. Or the user might "sudo port uninstall py2X-foo" which will fail saying it's required by py-foo.

OK, good, now we're getting somewhere. That is a reasonable complaint.

Yes, it would be nicer to have replaced_by exist independently of
portfiles somehow. It would also be nice to have some kind of alias
mechanism, again independent of creating a port for it.

> It might be useful to have a "default_subport" directive. When a user tries to install a port that has subports, if default_subport is set, MacPorts installs that subport instead. Otherwise, MacPorts tells the user to select one of the subports to install.

Let's try to solve the problems with appropriate mechanisms, not just
bash all the non-nails with our subport hammer.

- Josh