[MacPorts] #49086: Bad user experience if user forgets to save a list of requested ports before OS upgrade

[MacPorts]

#49086: Bad user experience if user forgets to save a list of requested ports
before OS upgrade
--------------------------+--------------------------------
  Reporter:  macports@…   |      Owner:  macports-tickets@…
      Type:  enhancement  |     Status:  closed
  Priority:  Normal       |  Milestone:
 Component:  base         |    Version:  2.3.4
Resolution:  invalid      |   Keywords:
      Port:               |
--------------------------+--------------------------------

Comment (by ryandesign@…):

 Replying to [comment:4 graziosi.angelo@…]:
 > Yesterday I followed your suggestion, and did a smooth upgrade
 >
 >
 > {{{
 > sudo port upgrade xz
 > sudo port upgrade harfbuzz
 > sudo port upgrade libtheora
 > sudo port upgrade iTerm2
 > sudo port upgrade atool
 > sudo port upgrade aspell
 > sudo port upgrade aspell-dict-en
 > sudo port upgrade aspell-dict-it
 > sudo port upgrade dos2unix
 > sudo port upgrade unrar
 > sudo port upgrade lftp
 > sudo port upgrade tesseract-eng
 > sudo port upgrade tesseract-ita
 > sudo port upgrade p7zip
 > sudo port upgrade djvu2pdf
 > sudo port upgrade pdf2djvu
 > sudo port upgrade clamav
 > sudo port upgrade allegro5-devel
 > sudo port upgrade gv
 > sudo port upgrade plotutils
 > sudo port upgrade xfig
 > sudo port upgrade xorg-server
 > sudo port upgrade root6
 > sudo port upgrade at-spi2-core at-spi2-atk
 > sudo port upgrade gdk-pixbuf2
 > sudo port upgrade emacs-mac-app
 > }}}
 >
 > These were only requested packages and all have been upgraded.

 Great! I'm glad that worked so smoothly.

 > The only packages which failed were:
 >
 > {{{
 > pdftk
 > geant4 (qt4-mac)
 > djview (qt4-mac)
 > }}}

 Yup, those are I believe known problems on El Capitan right now.

 > It took more than 12 hours..

 Unfortunately we don't have an automated build server set up for El
 Capitan yet. (We've [ticket:48609 requested one], but we have no control
 over the speed with which our administrator responds to our requests.)
 Without a build server, the builds have to happen on your own computer,
 which can take some time.

 > more then 12 hours to "upgrade" what already worked fine: installed
 under Yosemite and working under El Capitan. And this only because
 MacPorts says:
 >
 >
 > {{{
 > cloog                          0.18.3_0 < 0.18.3_0  (platform darwin 14
 != darwin 15)
 > djview                         4.10_0 < 4.10_0  (platform darwin 14 !=
 darwin 15)
 > gcc47                          4.7.4_5 < 4.7.4_5  (platform darwin 14 !=
 darwin 15)
 > [...]
 > }}}
 >
 > I think we should have only "one" installer, MacPorts-2.3.4.pkg, and
 only packages which do not depend on darwinXY,
 >
 >
 > {{{
 > emacs-mac-app @5.9_0+imagemagick+rsvg.darwin.tbz2
 > [...]
 > }}}
 >
 > After a new OSX release if there is some package that do not work, it
 would be upgraded when the fix has been found.. without constrain the
 users in upgrading what really already works..

 I agree that it would be nice to have a single installer package for
 MacPorts itself that works on any OS X version, but we don't have that
 right now and I'm not aware of anyone working on making that work.

 I understand that rebuilding ports that seem to already work is
 frustrating to you, but we don't plan to change this necessity when
 updating to a new OS X version. It is due to years of past experience that
 we have deliberately programmed MacPorts to work this way. Rebuilding your
 ports now ensures they'll continue to work on your new system.

 If you'd like to discuss further, please subscribe to the MacPorts users
 mailing list and write there.

-- 
Ticket URL: <https://trac.macports.org/ticket/49086#comment:5>
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