Why is binary avoided for Xcode MPI wrappers?

[Christopher Chavez]

The MPI wrapper ports (openmpi, mpich) for Xcode avoid binary archives from builders. The stated reason (currently in the mpiutil 1.0 portgroup) is that the builder and user may have different Xcode versions. This goes back at least to https://github.com/macports/macports-ports/commit/7c6fc1faa9 in 2014; not aware if discussed further elsewhere.

I am curious: is this still an issue (whether for the original reasons and/or others)?

Consider what happens if Xcode is updated—either on the builder, or on a user’s machine where they’ve locally built MPI wrapper ports: would the MPI wrapper ports need to be rebuilt? If not, then avoiding the binary archive from the builder seems needlessly restrictive. (If so, however, I’m not aware whether the ports detect they need to be rebuilt and prompt the user to do so.)

Christopher A. Chavez