Standard invocation of ./bootstrap

Seth McDonald dev at sethm.id.au
Sat Aug 8 05:00:05 UTC 2026


Hi all,

Is there a standard or preferred way for portfiles to invoke ./bootstrap
for ports that require it to build?  Searching the macports-ports GitHub
repo, I've found the following methods portfiles use to run the script.

(0)
	configure.cmd ./bootstrap
or
	configure.cmd ./bootstrap && ./configure
or
	build.cmd ./bootstrap

(1)
	use_autoconf yes
	autoconf.cmd ./bootstrap
or
	use_autoreconf yes
	autoreconf.cmd ./bootstrap
or
	use_automake yes
	automake.cmd ./bootstrap

(2)
	pre-configure {
		system -W ${worksrcpath} "./bootstrap"
	}
or
	pre-configure {
		system -W ${worksrcpath} "sh ./bootstrap"
	}

Methods (0) and (1) feel quite hacky, but (2) feels slightly more
complex than what should be necessary.

Take care,
	Seth McDonald.

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