sysadmin: is there a manifesto on environment settings for macports?

[Rainer Müller]

Darren Weber wrote:
> What about dynamic library path configuration (for dyld)?  What is the
> best way to configure this for macports?  Should settings apply at the
> system level (I would assume so) or at the user level (probably not).  I
> currently have one env setting for postgresql83 (and I think this one is
> user specfic):
> DYLD_FALLBACK_LIBRARY_PATH=:/opt/local/lib/postgresql83

ports should not require any DYLD_* settings as they are expected to
link against absolute paths in the ${prefix}. If this is really required
for postgresql83 to work, it is a bug in that port.

> When building libraries, is there a general philosophy on using rpath?
> I'm confused about this, eg consider:
> http://wiki.debian.org/RpathIssue
> http://www.mail-archive.com/bug-libtool@gnu.org/msg00700.html
> http://lists.apple.com/archives/unix-porting/2008/Mar/msg00008.html
> http://developer.apple.com/releasenotes/DeveloperTools/RN-dyld/index.html
> 
> I've found that rpath can be a problem because macports builds into a
> destroot.  When I use rpath outside of a destroot, it works fine, but I
> don't understand how to use it with a destroot, as in macports.  If a
> port should use rpath, how should a port set RPATH correctly (maybe a
> relative path to ${prefix})?  Or, should a port update a DYLD path
> setting so that run-time dependencies get resolved (see options for path
> settings in `man dyld` and maybe ports should set a system or user
> equivalent to ~/.MacOSX/environment.plist)?

First, what particular problem are you trying to solve with this? Is
there any port which relies on RPATH? If so, why would it need this?

Rainer