multiple mac-ports installations and cleaning the hard drive...

[Esteban Barahona]

El feb 10, 2551 BE, a las 22:13, Ryan Schmidt escribió:

> On Feb 10, 2008, at 21:16, Esteban Barahona wrote:
>
>> finally the port command funtioned, I tried installing GIMP but  
>> there was a lot of dependancies missing (I have to learn to use  
>> autotools for this to work... but that's for another day). But I'm  
>> not asking for help with this... it will eventually work...  
>> somehow...
>>
>> What I'm asking is to standarize a bit the use of directories that  
>> are used by macports,
>
> What's nonstandard? I'm not even sure what directories you're  
> talking about. There is of course the standard that ports should  
> install binary files into ${prefix}/bin, libraries into ${prefix}/ 
> lib, applications into /Applications/MacPorts, and so forth.

Ah... I didn't know of that behaviour. Maybe what I was thinking was  
more on a way to make all this functionality "visible" to "users" (an  
interface)... so that ports can be tested by more people. This is the  
"users" list; but in this project (I guess) most users are actually  
developers...

>> so that it can be deleted easily.
>
> Instructions for deleting MacPorts are in the wiki:
>
> http://trac.macports.org/projects/macports/wiki/FAQ#HowdoIremoveoruninstallMacPorts
>
>> Also, is there a way to install macports and its ports as a non- 
>> root user?
>
> Yes! Some ports may not work this way because few people test it  
> this way. But many ports will work this way.
>
> When you ./configure --prefix=... --with-install-user=... --with- 
> install-group=...

Thanks.

>> does this apps use some form of sandboxing or jails?
>
> Jails no, sandboxing yes. During the destroot phase, port contents  
> are installed to a sandbox. Once that succeeds, it's copied to the  
> right place. Ports might install things outside of ${prefix} but if  
> they do, port will print a warning so that you will know.

What's &(prefix)? Is it a way to automate some form of "macports root  
directory"?

>> Also, is there a frontend of macports that allows easy installing  
>> and unistalling of apps?
>
> Yes, there are several. Some cost money, some don't.
>
> http://trac.macports.org/projects/macports/wiki/FAQ#WherecanIfindaGUIfrontendforMacPorts

thanks; I will test the free ones.

>> This is to clean the hard drive, because some versions of ports (a  
>> form of directory based versioning may also help) may be installed  
>> multiple times because they don't work. Also, the redundancy of  
>> directories may create issues if a port used them (how to know  
>> which version to use). I'm aware that there is a way to delete all  
>> ports and macports, but what if there's the need of only tracking  
>> versions so that they can be deleted one by one?
>
> I'm not sure what you're talking about exactly... are you asking  
> about simultaneous installation of different versions of a port?  
> like, say, installing apach 2.2.6 and 2.2.8 at the same time? If so,  
> that's not possible. Well, you can have them "installed", in  
> MacPorts terms, but only one of them can be "active".

This is better than what I expected! I like this behaviour. If this  
can be used with what I think &(prefix) does, then I will test this  
behaviour (and if possible code a front end).

esteban
http://www.anagami.net