Standardizing a MacPorts system

[Tabitha McNerney]

Hello all --

I would like to build, from source, on an Xserve running Leopard Server, a
"standard" MacPorts system that could be deployed, in an organization, on
numerous other Apple servers running the same version of the OS (e.g.
Leopard Server). In doing so I would use Apple's command-line tools (such as
hdiutil and asr) create a restorable disk image (.dmg) file of a disc volume
that hangs off an external disk on my original Xserve which houses the
MacPorts prefix (e.g., /opt/local). I would then restore from this disc
image to the additional machines slated to be the recipients of the original
standard.

I don't see any immediate problems in doing so, however I have noticed when
installing some ports (when I have occasionally enabled verbose mode "-v"
during the install), depending on the port, some ports seem to take into
consideration the Hostname of the Xserve I'm running it on. On my Xserve
running Leopard Server, the Hostname is very importantly tied to the DNS
name because I am running Apple's DNS server that is buncled with Leopard
Server since I need it for other services on the machine which are not
directly related to MacPorts such as running an OpenDirectory Master. The
problem is, with hundreds of MacPorts tied together and with complex
dependency chains, how can anyone determine when a specific MacPort reads
the hostname and uses the hostname of the machine during the configuration
process (unless a sys admin such as myself builds each and every port with
verbose mode and analysis the output grepping for the hostname)? It might be
problematic if the hostname of any given MacPort somehow becomes "hard
wired" into the port itself during the configuration / install processing.
Then again, I might be making a mountain out of a mole hill.

Has anyone else built a Standardized MacPorts system that is cloned to
multiple Macs?

Thanks,

T.M.
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