Maverics/Xcode 5 proposal: no more xcode-select --install

[Paul Bennett]

Is 'xcode-select --install' really necessary on Mavericks?

I propose that it isn't, and we should consider a port that fails to build without as a bug.

Why?

Xcode 5 installs command-line shims for the toolchain. These invoke the relevant actual tools in the SDK directories. So it's possible to install many (most?) ports without 'xcode-select --install'. What that command does do is put in place copies of the tools, plus other files that aren't covered by the shims.

Take tuntaposx. The sole reason it requires 'xcode-select --install' is because its Makefiles hard-code the path /System/Library/Frameworks/Kernel.framework/Headers. If the port instead used `xcrun --show-sdk-path` as a prefix, the port would build without xcode-select.

So why require users to jump take the extra step on this one OS release? 
Why not bite the bullet now and scrap the dependency?

A first step to seeing whether this is viable might be to create a buildbot that hasn't had 'xcode-select --install' run, to see what the size of the problem is.


pab