"man port" not working?

[Ryan Schmidt]

On Oct 8, 2007, at 16:35, Instruct ICC wrote:

>>> > I see /sw in your path there. So I guess you have Fink  
>>> installed too.
>>> > That's just asking for trouble. I recommend you use either Fink or
>>> > MacPorts, but not both. Completely remove the one you no longer  
>>> wish
>>> > to use.
>>> >
>>> > I also see /usr/local in that path. Stuff in /usr/local can  
>>> interfere
>>> > with MacPorts too. I recommend you remove everything from /usr/ 
>>> local
>>> > and use MacPorts to install whatever software you need. If  
>>> software
>>> > you need is not in MacPorts, portfiles can be added.
>>>
>>> I thought the great thing about Fink and Macports is that they  
>>> each use their own directory, so I don't have to worry about my  
>>> Apple installations.
>>
>> Your problems with MANPATH are a good illustration. It can matter  
>> a great deal what your search order  in PATH is as well as well  
>> and may result in the wrong versions of libs getting picked up or  
>> the wrong version of programs run .......
>
> I think apps should say what changes they make to environmental  
> variables.  And some do.  I did see .profile.mpsaved

Yeah, that's a good idea. What MacPorts does to the environment  
should be documented here:

http://trac.macosforge.org/projects/macports/wiki/ 
InstallingMacPorts#a3.Settheshellenvironment

I'm not sure if that's complete; I haven't checked in awhile.


> Since Macports does not touch MANPATH, I disagree that this is a  
> good demonstration.
> I agree that my PATH will affect which app I run.  Do I want  
> Apple's bundled PHP or MAMP's, Fink's, Macports, or a manual  
> install's?
> They should all be able to coexist.  And I will explicitly list the  
> path to the app I want or I will adjust my PATH for this shell.
> I just don't know what "broke" 'man port' today.  But I'm looking  
> in the direction of Porticus.
>
> As far as building with libs in different paths, I replied  
> elsewhere on this list today.  But configure can always report,  
> "lib not found in /the/path/i/searched"

Would be nice if they could coexist, but the reality is that it can  
currently be problematic for the reasons I stated. If you do not have  
Fink or MacPorts directories in your PATH, and you do not have things  
in /usr/local, then there might be no problem. But I think I can  
speak for other MacPorts contributors in this matter and say that our  
strong recommendation remains to install and use one package manager  
only, because that is known to work.