Question about build dependencies

[Ryan Schmidt]

On May 29, 2008, at 08:16, Rainer Müller wrote:

> 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.

Oh right. The order isn't important because it'll be linked in the  
build phase, which will be influenced by the -L${prefix}/lib  
parameter MacPorts automatically adds to the LDFLAGS which will  
ensure the MacPorts version of a library gets used if it exists, in  
preference to a system library.


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

I think I agree there.


>> 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.

Right.