[MacPorts] #18359: Guide has wrong advice about variants

[MacPorts]

#18359: Guide has wrong advice about variants
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 Reporter:  ryandesign@…             |       Owner:  markd@…                
     Type:  defect                   |      Status:  new                    
 Priority:  Normal                   |   Milestone:  Website & Documentation
Component:  guide                    |     Version:  1.7.0                  
 Keywords:                           |        Port:                         
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Comment(by markd@…):

 I think I did it that way because that is the way I was told to do it way
 back.  But it also seems to me that somewhere in the past I borked the
 hourly portindex function on macports because of a variant I used in the
 global section of a portfile.  I think it was explained to me that
 variants in the global section of portfiles are evaluated by the macports
 box that does the portindex.  So I thought that only certain keywords
 could be used within a variant declaration.  That is what I recall, by way
 of explanation.  If that is wrong or no longer true, then let's hash that
 out and I'd be happy to modify the guide accordingly.  I do agree that it
 is clearer to put everything a variant does in the variant declarations
 much of the time.

 Also, realize that I recently started distinguishing in the guide between
 "platform variants" and "user-selected variants" (see reference section).
 If there is any truth to my recalled understanding above, perhaps it was
 the platform variants that caused the problem.  If so, then that would
 change the user advice too; at the vary least it would mean only warning
 about being careful with platform variants instead of variants in general.

 So let me know if there is any truth at all to this and I'll be happy to
 correct the guide accordingly.

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Ticket URL: <http://trac.macports.org/ticket/18359#comment:2>
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