enabling Variant: options when installing nano

[Max Garfinkel]

Hello, I am new to macports and I am trying to enable syntax  
highlighting for nano. I tried just editing the nanorc file but I get  
errors like this:
Error in /opt/local/etc/nanorc on line 3: Command "syntax" not  
understood
I have read around and I am guessing that I need to set the  
configuration options when doing the install. I notice that the apps  
page has a list configuration.args and Variant: options. I can't seem  
to find any information on how to pass these options to the install.  
It seems it may be to do with env variables? Rather than particular  
help configuring nano I would rather have an explanation of how to  
apply these options as it seems to be not really documented anywhere.  
I would be very grateful for a nudge in the right direction.
max
P.s This is my first post to a mailing list so apologies if I have  
broken any etiquette.