force install without a dependency

[Ryan Schmidt]

On May 12, 2008, at 10:53 AM, Jacob Schwartz wrote:

> Is there a way to tell "port" to install a package (such as
> "haskell-mode.el") without installing one of its dependencies (in this
> case, "emacs")?  Since "emacs" is already installed on the Mac, it has
> not been installed via MacPorts, so "port" doesn't know about it.
> (And I can imagine other packages that are either pre-installed or
> have been installed by hand.)  Further, in the case of the
> Haskell-mode for "emacs", the dependencies on "emacs" and "ghc" should
> really not be required for the install at all -- the dependencies are
> only (conceivably) there because you're not going to use the
> Haskell-mode unless you've also install "emacs" and "ghc" (although,
> "ghc" is debatable, because you could have installed another Haskell
> compiler/interpreter/other tool).
>
> Right now, I'm just resigning to having MacPorts install emacs
> (alternatively, I could have hand-installed the haskell mode, outside
> of MacPorts).  But I'd like to know, for the future, if there's a way
> to force "port" not to install certain dependencies.  (I see that
> there is "-n" for upgrading, but in this case I don't want to prevent
> upgrading of the dependency, I want to prevent installing.)

No. MacPorts is designed to accept only its own ports as satisfying  
dependencies, not any other versions of that software you may already  
have installed. There are some exceptions, but in general, that's the  
rule. Please see:

http://trac.macports.org/wiki/FAQ#WhyisMacPortsusingitsownlibraries