[MacPorts] #14540: Document -devel ports

[MacPorts]

#14540: Document -devel ports
-------------------------------------+--------------------------------------
 Reporter:  ryandesign at macports.org  |       Owner:  markd at macports.org     
     Type:  enhancement              |      Status:  new                    
 Priority:  Normal                   |   Milestone:  Website & Documentation
Component:  guide                    |     Version:  1.6.0                  
 Keywords:                           |  
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 The guide should document -devel ports. There was
 [http://lists.macosforge.org/pipermail/macports-
 dev/2008-February/004298.html a 3-day discussion on macports-dev] about
 this at the beginning of February 2008, and since that topic has been
 dormant for weeks now, I think that thread can be used as the basis for
 what to write in the guide.

 Note that much of the thread includes suggestions for how -devel ports
 *should* be handled in the future, with various disagreements about that,
 but that we should right now already document the way -devel ports *are*
 handled:

  * -devel ports are unstable and are intended for testing only, not for
 production use, and can't be guaranteed to work correctly -- not that we
 guarantee any port to work correctly, but these are even less-guaranteed
  * -devel ports are usually newer versions than the corresponding non-
 devel port, though sometimes they're older
  * when the development series being followed by the -devel port
 culminates in a new stable released version, the corresponding non-devel
 port is updated to that released version, while the -devel port remains at
 the last development version
  * if you have the -devel version installed, and a newer non-devel version
 is released, "`port`" won't tell you about this via e.g. "`port
 outdated`"; you have to find out yourself
  * -devel ports install software in the same places as their non-devel
 counterparts, so that -devel ports can satisfy a dependency via the same
 files as the equivalent non-devel port, with the side-effect that you
 cannot have both the -devel and the non-devel port activated at the same
 time
  * -devel ports and their non-devel counterparts should be kept as similar
 as possible, ideally by a single maintainer or by two maintainers who work
 together to apply common changes to both ports. "`diff -u foo/Portfile
 foo-devel/Portfile`" should not show any irrelevant differences like
 whitespace changes or variants that were added to just one port but which
 would make just as much sense also added to the other port, etc.
  * ports should not depend on a -devel port if that software could just as
 well use the non-devel port
  * ports that depend on ports where both -devel and non-devel versions
 exist should depend on them in such a way that either port will satisfy
 the dependency. For example, instead of depending on "`port:mysql5`"
 (mysql5 would satisfy that dependency but mysql5-devel would not), depend
 on "`path:${prefix}/bin/mysql_config5`" (both mysql5 and mysql5-devel
 would satisfy that dependency).
  * possibly more; check the thread -- I didn't read through it all again
 right now

 Documentation of -devel ports was requested again in
 [comment:ticket:14387:3 #14387].

-- 
Ticket URL: <http://trac.macosforge.org/projects/macports/ticket/14540>
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