MacPort selfupdate using SVN

[Rainer Müller]

On 2015-03-10 15:48, Jackson Isaac wrote:
> On Mon, Mar 9, 2015 at 5:03 PM, Ryan Schmidt <ryandesign at macports.org> wrote:
>> On Mar 9, 2015, at 06:02, Jackson Isaac wrote:
>>>
>>> But when I try 'port -d sync', it says I need to run 'port
>>> selfupdate'. My University network blocks rsync.
>>
>> selfupdate always uses rsync; it cannot be configured to use another method. If your network blocks rsync, then you cannot use the selfupdate command. Instead, use sync to sync your portfile definitions, and on the rare occasions when MacPorts base itself is updated, install it another way, for example by downloading the installer from our website.
> 
> Here: http://trac.macports.org/wiki/howto/SyncingWithSVN
> it says that when I run 'port -d sync' it will run 'svn update'

That is correct.

> But when I do 'port -d sync' it doesn't update the ports and asks me
> to run 'port selfupdate' which uses rsync, which I do not want to as
> the network blocks it.

Hm, "doesn't update" is highly unspecific. How did you determine that it
did not update? What was the output on terminal?

I can only guess this was either about a missing port index or that your
port definitions are more than two weeks old. In both cases it is
hardcoded to say 'port selfupdate', since this is what users are
supposed to use. In special cases such as yours when rsync is not
available, you can use 'port sync' instead, after which these messages
should not appear anymore.

However, as Ryan said, when you use 'port sync', remember to update
MacPorts itself manually from the disk image or by compiling from source.

As a side note from a developer's point of view, we should get rid of
rsync for selfupdate and fetch signed source tarballs over HTTP. Or
probably even use the binary .pkg installers instead.

Rainer