Multiple module installations

[Ryan Schmidt]

On Feb 26, 2010, at 03:41, Christoph Deil wrote:

> listing my installed modules shows that some packages are installed multiple times:
> 
> $ port list installed
> [...]
> py26-tz                        @2010b          python/py26-tz
> py26-tz                        @2010b          python/py26-tz
> python25                       @2.5.5          lang/python25
> python25                       @2.5.5          lang/python25
> python26                       @2.6.4          lang/python26
> python_select                  @0.3            sysutils/python_select
> qhull                          @2010.1         math/qhull
> qrupdate                       @1.0.1          math/qrupdate
> qt4-mac                        @4.6.2          aqua/qt4-mac
> qt4-mac                        @4.6.2          aqua/qt4-mac
> qt4-mac                        @4.6.2          aqua/qt4-mac
> qt4-mac                        @4.6.2          aqua/qt4-mac
> rarian                         @0.8.1          textproc/rarian
> readline                       @6.1.000        devel/readline
> root                           @5.26.00        science/root
> root                           @5.26.00        science/root
> [...]

"port list installed" does not do what you think it does. The command you want to use instead is "port installed".


> I noticed that everytime I do a port selfupdate, qt4-mac is installed anew, which takes hours.

First of all, "port selfupdate" does not install any ports. "port upgrade" does. Second, it will only have been a coincidence that a new qt4-mac version was available every time you checked; the port has only been updated a few times lately: version 4.6.0 on 2010-01-08, 4.6.1 on 2010-01-27, 4.6.2 on 2010-02-18. If you only check for updates every few weeks, then yes, you'll have many ports to upgrade each time; MacPorts maintainers updated dozens of ports every day.


> Since the version number is always identical this seems unnecessary.

The version number is not always identical; you merely think it is because you're looking at the output of "port list installed", which does not display the information you think it displays.


> Are these multiple module installations by macports normal / necessary?
> Should I delete the multiple older installations?
> How do I select which ones to delete?

It is normal for MacPorts to keep older versions of ports so that you have the option to revert to them should you feel it necessary to do so. To reclaim disk space if you don't plan to revert to an older version, you can fully uninstall old versions by specifying their complete version and variant line. For example, if "port installed" shows you have qt4-mac @4.6.0_0+universal installed, and you don't plan to go back to that version, you could uninstall it by typing "sudo port uninstall qt4-mac @4.6.0_0+universal". If you already know at upgrade time that you don't want MacPorts to retain the older version(s), and you want MacPorts to uninstall the old version(s) when installing the new one, use the "-u" flag to port upgrade, e.g. "sudo port -u upgrade qt4-mac".