Universal Binaries

[Ryan Schmidt]

On Jan 21, 2009, at 21:22, Timothy Lee wrote:

> 1. What is the current state of the +universal variant? Do most  
> ports work?

It's unknown if most ports work. If it doesn't work for ports you  
want, file tickets. Note that 64-bit universal support is likely more  
broken than plain 32-bit universal support.

It's possible we could fix this situation a great deal by switching  
ports to the new universal build strategy available in the merge- 
universal portgroup.


> 2. How is dependencies and the +universal variants used? Meaning if  
> I type "sudo port install pan2 +universal" will that pass the  
> variant to all dependencies that get built before pan2?

Yes, as with all variants, the variants you ask for will get passed  
down to any other port that needs to get *installed* (but not to any  
other port that's needed that you already have installed). If you  
want to install X universal, and X depends on Y and Z, and Y and/or Z  
are already installed, you must ensure that Y and Z are already  
universal, otherwise you will get (possibly cryptic) errors  
installing X universal.