[MacPorts] #40294: Avoid building ports with unmet dependencies or try to build dependencies with requested variants

[MacPorts]

#40294: Avoid building ports with unmet dependencies or try to build dependencies
with requested variants
----------------------------+-------------------------
 Reporter:  mojca@…         |      Owner:  wsiegrist@…
     Type:  enhancement     |     Status:  new
 Priority:  Low             |  Milestone:
Component:  server/hosting  |    Version:
 Keywords:                  |       Port:
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 I came across examples of ports which use the {{{active_variants}}}
 PortGroup and request a specific variant of dependency to be present (two
 notable examples are {{{wxMaxima}}} and {{{p5-graphics-gnuplotif}}}). The
 buildbot might spend 15 minutes activating or compiling dependencies of
 {{{p5-graphics-gnuplotif}}} only to figure out that {{{gnuplot}}} hasn't
 been built with {{{+wxwidgets}}}.

 While I would preferentially like to request that when the user (or a port
 on the buildbot) asks for a certain variant of the port that isn't active,
 MacPorts would try to install the dependency with that variant, it would
 at least make sense to detect the problem much earlier and not event start
 the compilation. See also #40293 for the request to not report such
 incidences as "compilation failed" by the buildbot.

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Ticket URL: <https://trac.macports.org/ticket/40294>
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