Question about build dependencies

[Rainer Müller]

Ryan Schmidt wrote:
> Unless you've overridden this path by setting binpath in the  
> macports.conf. (This is only available in MacPorts trunk, not in  
> MacPorts 1.6.0.)

This is already available in 1.6.0, but it was not documented.

> For libraries, I'm not sure where the code is that searches, or what  
> order it searches in. I would hope it's the same though -- MacPorts  
> prefix first, then the rest.

No, this is not the case. It depends on the environment port runs in and 
some hardcoded paths, but in the wrong order.

See proc _libtest in macports.tcl, line 1065:
lappend search_path /lib /usr/lib /usr/X11R6/lib /usr/X11/lib ${prefix}/lib

Should we change that to search ${prefix} first? As this just checks for 
existance of the library and does not influence building at all, it is 
not that important in which order the directories are searched.

But the two occasions of /usr/X11R6 and /usr/X11 should be replaced by 
${x11prefix}.

> Which is precisely why the MacPorts project recommends that ports  
> depend on other ports, not on binaries or libraries that may be  
> installed on the system by Apple, whose versions or features could  
> change under our noses by a system update.

With Xcode and X11 being the exception.

Rainer