buildpath conf variable

[Ryan Schmidt]

> On Sep 26, 2016, at 3:07 AM, René J.V. Bertin <rjvbertin at gmail.com> wrote:
> 
> Hi,
> 
> I know that more and more people (esp developers?) are using SSDs and that for them fragmentation starts hitting only when it's the free space that's really severely fragmented. I have no experience in that area, and do not currently have the budget to obtain that experience.
> 
> Either way, it seems to me that it might be an interesting idea to make it possible (easier) to put the build directory on a separate volume (interesting for anyone building a lot from source). This removes a big source of free space fragmentation (on disks where fragmentation is an issue), but in general helps keep ${prefix} cleaner. It can also help keeping log files more compact and thus more readable if a shorter base path is chosen.
> 
> Is this an idea that would stand a chance being considered for "base", IOW, should I file a wishlist ticket on trac?
> 
> In fact I have an untested hunch that at least for my own purposes it could be useful to have separate trees (and thus potentially separate volumes) for source.dir and build.dir/destroot.dir, where possible ... but I also have a hunch that would be more anyone could ask for :)

I can't guarantee this won't mess something up, but I think you can already delete the /opt/local/var/macports/build directory and replace it a symlink to another volume. Just make certain they're using the same format. Don't, for example, try to use case-sensitive HFS+ on your main MacPorts volume and case-insensitive HFS+ on the volume you symlink to the build directory to.

Most users use Macs with a single volume, so I don't think a patch for this is of general interest.