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

[Esteban Barahona]

El feb 10, 2551 BE, a las 23:01, Ryan Schmidt escribió:

>
> On Feb 10, 2008, at 22:44, Esteban Barahona wrote:
>
>> 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...
>
> What would you like to be more visible? I'm not sure I understand.  
> Software needs to be installed somewhere; most Unix software (which  
> is a large portion of what MacPorts installs) installs to standard  
> directories, such as many of those defined by the Filesystem  
> Hierarchy Standard:
>
> http://www.pathname.com/fhs/

I'm thinking of a Debian/Ubuntu like installation but more focused on  
apps instead of packages. Unix is great, but I chosed Mac OS X because  
of the interace...

> For the double-clickable Mac software installed by MacPorts, the  
> Apple-standard location is /Applications, so MacPorts creates a  
> directory there that it can own and installs apps into that.
>
> For any port foo, you can see where it installed its files by using:
>
> port contents foo

thanks

>
>
>>>> 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"?
>
> ${prefix} is the variable in MacPorts portfiles that represents the  
> prefix into which MacPorts was installed. The usual location is /opt/ 
> local. The binary installers for MacPorts always install into the / 
> opt/local prefix. If you want a different prefix, you can compile  
> MacPorts yourself.

I will try compiling it myself with a different prefix.

>>>> 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).
>
> You're welcome to code your own front-end, but consider that we  
> already have three listed at the above URL, and that your time might  
> be better spent contributing to one of those existing projects.

Yes, I didn't specify that by coding a front end, I was actually  
implying that I will help first with an implementation instead of  
starting from scratch. But I do need to know how to code a basic  
interface in Mac from scratch...


Esteban Barahona
http://www.anagami.net