unregistered files/modules

[David Epstein]

Paul Beard-2 wrote:
> 
> On 10/8/07, David Epstein <David.Epstein at warwick.ac.uk> wrote:
>>> Error: Target org.macports.activate returned: Image error: /opt/local/
>> share/locale/locale.alias already exists and does not belong to a
>> registered port.
> 
> what does "port provides /opt/local/share/locale/locale.alias" tell you?
> it
> says it's unregistered or unassociated with any installed port, so I don't
> think anything will be revealed. Have you installed anything manually (ie,
> from source w/o MacPorts) on this system?
> If you haven't got anything /opt/local that isn't owned by MacPorts, you
> can
> use "port -f install gnupg" to override any of the issues you're seeing.
> 
> -- 
> Paul Beard / www.paulbeard.org/
> <paulbeard at gmail.com/paulbeard at mac.com>
> 

Thanks to everyone for very helpful comments. The whole set-up was very
mysterious, and has now become much clearer. The material in /opt/local/ was
installed by a programmer. I have no idea how he did it, but it was a long
time ago, maybe before Darwinports was really up and running, let alone
Macports. So macports is refusing to delete these files under automation,
and that's obviously the right thing for port to do unless there is a
special flag. It is still not clear to me what will happen if I give a
command like "port -f install gnupg". Practically NOTHING in my large
/opt/local comes from MacPorts, so Paul is suggesting that I should
therefore not use -f. But that's exactly WHY I want to use -f. A number of
my programs in /opt/local just don't work on my new Intel Mac, so I have to
upgrade. What are the dangers of using -f? Would it help me, in view of the
fact that the files I want to delete do not come from MacPorts? Or would
MacPorts still refuse to delete? I don't like the idea of using a force
command without knowing fairly well what damage it might do.

You can see why I'm not happy with the output from "man port" which explains
-f as
"force mode (ignore state file)". I don't know what "state file" means, and
man doesn't say whether port's actions are confined to files installed by
MacPorts. There must be documentation that says what "state file"
means---could a kind person direct me to it? Thanks very much.

David Epstein David.Epstein at warwick.ac.uk
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