[MacPorts] #44493: Support globs in port versions (was: Support wildcard on versions)

[MacPorts]

#44493: Support globs in port versions
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  Reporter:  ora.et.labora@…  |      Owner:  macports-tickets@…
      Type:  enhancement      |     Status:  reopened
  Priority:  Normal           |  Milestone:
 Component:  base             |    Version:  2.3.1
Resolution:                   |   Keywords:
      Port:                   |
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Comment (by larryv@…):

 Your point about consistency is taken, but MacPorts is not really designed
 to work with different versions of ports. For instance…

 Replying to [comment:3 ora.et.labora@…]:
 > Here I'm taking port "gcc" as an example, it is however not "gcc"
 > related. So, I can do this:
 >
 > {{{ $ port install gcc at 4.5.4_8  }}}

 …this does not work in the general case. It might work for activating an
 inactive port `gcc at 4.5.4_8` (I have not tried it because I use `port
 activate` for this purpose), but if such a port is not present, you will
 get the latest version of `gcc`.

 Supporting wildcards in versions would work rather differently than the
 way wildcards currently work. I believe a glob is internally transformed
 into a list of matching portnames before the action is executed; the
 expansion is done using the port index and does not consider any installed
 ports. Globbing on the version string would have to consult the registry.

 The relevant code is in [[browser:trunk/base/src/port/port.tcl|port.tcl]],
 although one could make the argument that globs should be handled by
 [[browser:trunk/base/src/macports1.0/macports.tcl|macports.tcl]].

-- 
Ticket URL: <https://trac.macports.org/ticket/44493#comment:9>
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