[MacPorts] #31009: port command in a stub directory should select the subport automatically if no portname argument

[MacPorts]

#31009: port command in a stub directory should select the subport automatically if
no portname argument
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  Reporter:  vinc17@…             |       Owner:  macports-tickets@…                   
      Type:  enhancement          |      Status:  closed                               
  Priority:  Normal               |   Milestone:                                       
 Component:  base                 |     Version:  2.0.1                                
Resolution:  invalid              |    Keywords:                                       
      Port:                       |  
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Comment(by dports@…):

 Replying to [comment:3 vinc17@…]:
 > I think you missed the point. The goal is that the user can modify the
 Portfile file (e.g. for testing) and doesn't need to choose the subport.
 MacPorts should do it for him if the user has typed "port destroot" only.
 Since building the stub itself is quite useless, one wouldn't lose any
 feature.

 Which subport should it install? Keep in mind that the perl5 ports have
 four subports besides the main port (stub).

 And although currently the only ports using subports are the perl5/python
 ports, where the main port is just a stub that depends on one of the
 subports, that isn't necessarily true in general. (Consider the subports I
 proposed in #31027, for example...)

 > And IMHO, MacPorts should never install a port using the modified
 Portfile if the user hasn't requested it explicitly. What I mean here is
 that "port build" in a p5-xml-libxslt directory currently has the effect
 to install and activate the p5.12-xml-libxslt subport (at least on my
 machine), which is quite an unexpected behavior (upgrading the other
 dependencies is OK, as they shouldn't have a modified Portfile).

 Actually, it'll install whatever p5.12-xml-libxslt is in your ports tree,
 not specifically the one from the portfile in your current directory. I'm
 not sure whether you'd consider that better or worse, but at least it's
 consistent with all other dependencies.

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Ticket URL: <https://trac.macports.org/ticket/31009#comment:7>
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