xorg-libxkbui installation problem / general X11 question

[Ryan Schmidt]

Hi Lars,


On Sep 25, 2009, at 08:22, Lars Sonchocky-Helldorf wrote:

> when doing an 'sudo port -v upgrade outdated' I got a failure for  
> xorg-libxkbui which I have attached:
>
> <macports xorg-libxkbui install failure.txt>
>
> my environment (a PowerBook G4):
>
> Lars-Sonchocky-Helldorfs-Computer:~ lars$ uname -a
> Darwin Lars-Sonchocky-Helldorfs-Computer.local 8.11.0 Darwin Kernel  
> Version 8.11.0: Wed Oct 10 18:26:00 PDT 2007; root:xnu-792.24.17~1/ 
> RELEASE_PPC Power Macintosh powerpc
> Lars-Sonchocky-Helldorfs-Computer:~ lars$ port version
> Version: 1.8.0

Thanks for letting us know. xorg-libxkbui was missing a dependency on  
xorg-libXt, which I have now added (in r58301). Please wait 30 minutes  
from the time of this message, then "sudo port sync" and try again.


> What makes me wonder here is why macports tries to install X11/Xorg  
> at all, given I already have installed X11.app from Apple. Is this  
> the case because the X11.app from Apple is to old (I got version  
> 1.1.3) or because it is incompatible or not detected? I'd rather use  
> Apple's X11.app (because it works and I have no problems installing  
> it) but if this is not sufficient please let me know.

MacPorts installs its own X11 libraries for the same reason it  
installs its own version of every other library: to avoid bugs in  
older versions included with Mac OS X, and to provide a consistent  
experience for MacPorts users across all versions of Mac OS X.

http://trac.macports.org/wiki/FAQ#ownlibs

X11 had previously been an exception to this rule because X11 in  
MacPorts had not been maintained and did not work. But now a lot of  
effort has been put in to make X11 in MacPorts work. For a time, we  
allowed users the option of using either the MacPorts X11 or the  
system's X11, but this caused a large number of problems so this  
option was removed.

You can continue to use Apple's X11.app in /Applications/Utilities to  
run software you install using MacPorts. However, the version of  
X11.app on Tiger is very old and contains many bugs which have since  
been fixed. So especially for Tiger, I recommend you install the ports  
xorg-server and quartz-wm and use X11.app in /Applications/MacPorts  
instead.

Note also that the X11 system Apple shipped in Tiger and earlier is  
based on XFree86 while the X11 system Apple ships in Leopard and  
later, and the one we now use in MacPorts, is based on X.Org. That's  
another reason to prefer the MacPorts version on Tiger -- to upgrade  
you to the same X11 the rest of the Mac world is using.