PortAuthority 2.6 released

[Kevin Walzer]

PortAuthority 2.6, my GUI for MacPorts, is now out.

PortAuthority provides a graphical user interface for the MacPorts 
package management system for Mac OS X. MacPorts is a powerful 
command-line tool for installing and updating a variety of Unix-based 
applications for the Mac. Its power, though, comes at the cost of some 
complexity; in the past the only way to utilize MacPorts was to type in 
various commands into the Mac's Terminal application, which can be 
intimidating for those users without a Unix background.

PortAuthority aims to bring the power of MacPorts to the traditional Mac 
user by providing a user-friendly graphical interface to MacPorts. Using 
a familiar combination of windows, icons, and menus, PortAuthority users 
can search, install, update, and remove MacPorts programs and the 
MacPorts infrastructure itself.

Among the features and improvements in this release:

* Faster display of all MacPorts packages: only queries MacPorts 
database on startup and when package is installed or removed, not when 
"All" is selected from tree view.

* Growl support: Now displays Growl notifications on systems with Growl 
installed.

* Adds standard Mac "window" menu to better fit with system interface 
guidelines.

* Preferences now update immediately on window close; no need to hit 
"save" button. Better compliance with system interface guidelines.

* No longer connects to server on every startup to check for new 
version; user controls this process.

* New "license" menu item displays user's serial number.

* User help now online; eliminates use of OS X help viewer.

PortAuthority is shareware; a license costs $24.95 and a 30-day demo is 
available. Mac OS X 10.4 is the minimum supported OS. PortAuthority is a 
universal binary.

For more information about PortAuthority, including download links, see 
http://www.codebykevin.com/portauthority.html.

-- 
Kevin Walzer
Code by Kevin
http://www.codebykevin.com