using native python 2.5 as opposed to installing 2.4

[John Velman]

On Sun, Apr 06, 2008 at 07:55:41PM +0900, Randy Bush wrote:
> Randall Wood wrote:
> > On Sun, Apr 6, 2008 at 12:13 AM, Randy Bush <randy at psg.com> wrote:
> >> < insert old unix geek whining about macos and unsearchable mailman
> >>  mailing list archives >
> >>
> >>  trying to install rdiff-backup.  it, and py-xattr want to install python
> >>  2.4 port when there is a perfectly good python 2.5 native in leopard.  i
> >>  can not find the equivalent of freebsd's /usr/local/etc/pkgtools.conf to
> >>  whack the port's build parms.  and doc reading does not give me a lot of
> >>  clue.
> > 
> > I can speak to why we don't use the system python, but not to rdiff-backup:
> > 
> > The system python would have to be modified to see the
> > MacPorts-installed python packages or MacPorts would have to stick
> > those packages outside of its managed directory. MacPorts uses a
> > single managed directory[1] to avoid collisions with other software
> > that would break the ability to manage the ports. To avoid modifying
> > the system python, MacPorts installs its own python as well.
> > 
> > [1] /opt/local by default. There are some exceptions
> > /Applications/MacPorts so that apps just work and are visible in the
> > Applications directory and a couple of others related to bootstrapping
> > in MacPorts to begin with.
> 
> as i sit here watching a whole parallel universe of gnu utils, python,
> ... being built and installed, i am not comfortable.  i know that i will
> now have to maintain this overbuilt universe as time passes.
> 
> and then i get the appended and wonder how i scrape all this stuff i do
> not need out.  sqlite?  someone's kidding, right?
> 
> sigh.
> 
> randy
> 
> ---
> 

Three parallel universes!  I've also got Fink, but I don't remember why!
As an old Unix/Linux user (not expert, but journeyman) I went over to Mac
when my 8 year old PC (with slackware) seemed too difficult for some new
things, and Leopard + the new iMac was a package I couldn't not try.

Reading up before hand I found advice to install either or both of MacPorts
and Fink.  I didn't at first, but the SWI prolog Mac community seemed to be
using MacPorts, so I got it.  Also wanted gvim, so got vim package from
MacPorts.  And so on.  I've now got 35M in my /opt/local/bin file, and 6.5M
in my sw/bin file.

I would have even more if I hadn't removed some things, for example,
MacPorts Vim.  I found MacVim, which is a native Quartz translation of Vim,
with very nice GUI features.  I use PostgreSQL rather than SQLite, and it
compiled nicely out of the box without any MacPorts or Fink.  So did Mutt.

On the other hand, there are a few things that have been very handy, and
might have been a problem to build myself.  I'm thinking specifically of
gphoto2 and pam which installed from MacPorts with zero problem, and solved
an "unusual digital camera" problem I couldn't seem to solve otherwise.

Oh, by the way.  I'm now foregoing the X11 interface to SWI Prolog (which I
seldom used anyway), and keeping up with the latest releases by compiling
with the standard OS X Leopard tools.  So my original two incentives for
getting MacPorts are gone.  But I did get Pam and gphoto2 as a benefit I
didn't expect!

This is not really a complaint, tho I'm afraid it may sound like it.
MacPorts (and Fink) are valuable projects, but much more useful to some
than others, obviously.  Unfortunately, not interfering with the Mac
directory architecture carries some penalties.  It would be nice if these
could be ameliorated.  But it would be worse to mess with the native Mac
directory architecture.


Best,

John V.


> --->  Fetching sqlite3
> --->  Attempting to fetch sqlite-3.5.7.tar.gz from http://www.sqlite.org/
> --->  Verifying checksum(s) for sqlite3
> --->  Extracting sqlite3
> --->  Configuring sqlite3
> --->  Building sqlite3 with target all
> Error: Target org.macports.build returned: shell command " cd
> "/opt/local/var/macports/build/_opt_local_var_macports_sources_rsync.macports.org_release_ports_databases_sqlite3/work/sqlite-3.5.7"
> && gnumake all " returned error 2
> Command output: sed -e s/--VERS--/3.5.7/ ./src/sqlite.h.in | \
>         sed -e s/--VERSION-NUMBER--/3005007/ >sqlite3.h
> /usr/bin/gcc-4.0 -O2 -o mkkeywordhash  ./tool/mkkeywordhash.c
> ./mkkeywordhash >keywordhash.h
> /usr/bin/gcc-4.0 -O2 -o lemon ./tool/lemon.c
> cp ./tool/lempar.c .
> cp ./src/parse.y .
> ./lemon  parse.y
> mv parse.h parse.h.temp
> f ./addopcodes.awk parse.h.temp >parse.h
> /bin/sh: f: command not found
> gnumake: [parse.c] Error 127 (ignored)
> cat parse.h ./src/vdbe.c |  -f ./mkopcodeh.awk >opcodes.h
> /bin/sh: -f: command not found
> cat: stdout: Broken pipe
> gnumake: *** [opcodes.h] Error 127
> 
> Error: The following dependencies failed to build: subversion apr-util
> sqlite3 neon
> Error: Status 1 encountered during processing.
> 
> 
> randy
> 
> _______________________________________________
> macports-users mailing list
> macports-users at lists.macosforge.org
> http://lists.macosforge.org/mailman/listinfo/macports-users