What is in /opt/local/var/db/dports

[Elias Pipping]

On Apr 13, 2007, at 1:57 AM, Elias Pipping wrote:

> ${prefix}/var/db/dports contains five directories:
>
> build
> =====
>         this is where all the temporary files go whenever
>         you install something. unless you're building
>         something, it should be empty (it can potentially
>         contain a lot of sub-directories but those should
>         themselves only contain an empty 'work' dir. If
>         you've disabled cleaning after installation...
>
>         * through 'portautoclean no' in
>           ${prefix}/etc/ports/ports.conf
>         * through -k on the command line
>           (e.g. 'sudo port -k install foo +bar)
>
>         ...which you mostly likely haven't, the directory
>         will *not* be empty but instead still contain files.
>
>         long story short:
>         =================
>
>         unless another action is running, you're free to
>         remove the directory, most likely not saving space,
>         though. (see distfiles -> long story short)
>
> distfiles
> =========
>
>         whenever a port is installed, files are fetched and
>         put into this directory, so whenever you decide to
>         uninstall something and feel like reinstalling it
>         (the same version!) at a later point in time, you
>         won't have to fetch any files that time.
>
>         long story short:
>         =================
>
>         this is the directory you can safely get rid of.
>         instead of deleting it, you might first want to...
>
>            sudo port -f clean --all

            should have been

              sudo port -f clean --all all
>
>         to clean both the distfiles and the build directory.

           what i forgot to mention is: tarballs will start to
           pile up here through updates. so if you install a port
           and upgrade it twice you'll have three tarballs in
           there. (unless it's e.g. vim where updates only consist
           of small patches. (with vim it'd probably be a bad idea
           to clear this directory)

>
> receipts
> ========
>
>         doesn't take up much space. i won't go into detail but
>         this directory is essential for macports to run, don't
>         delete it.
>
> software
> ========
>
>         this is where both inactive and active ports go.
>         activating or deactivating a port doesn't change
>         anything about how much space it takes up on your hd.
>         the file in ${prefix}/(bin|lib|include|...) are only
>         links, which take up virtually no extra space.
>
>         long story short:
>         =================
>
>         to save space, get rid of inactive ports.
>
>           port echo inactive
>
>         gets you a list. don't remove anything from this
>         directory by hand!
>
> sources
> =======
>
>         the portfiles for every port there is are placed here -
>         assuming your macports installation is up to date.
>
>           sudo port sync
>
>         makes sure that is the case. removing this directory
>         isn't really harmful, it's pointless, though because
>
>         * you won't be able to install anything without it
>         * it'll be restored after every successful sync/selfupdate.
>
>
> Regards,
>
> Elias Pipping
>
>
> On Apr 13, 2007, at 1:22 AM, Markus Weimer wrote:
>
>> Hi,
>>
>> I just checked my system for places where I can get a few  
>> megabytes of
>> diskspace back and found that /opt/local/var/db/dports contains quite
>> a lot of files. Essentially all software packages I installed are
>> there once again. Is it safe to delete them? Is there a general
>> procedure to free as much space as possible while keeping the ports
>> intact?
>>
>> Thanks in advance for any pointers,
>>
>> Markus
>> _______________________________________________
>> macports-users mailing list
>> macports-users at lists.macosforge.org
>> http://lists.macosforge.org/mailman/listinfo/macports-users
>
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