port install zim fails, possibly on a perl error.

[Ryan Schmidt]

On Jan 2, 2011, at 17:39, Derek Schutt wrote:
> On 1/1/2011 5:43 PM, Ryan Schmidt wrote:
>> On Dec 30, 2010, at 10:31, Derek Schutt wrot
>>> Error: Failed to install p5-file-basedir
>>> Log for p5-file-basedir is at: /opt/local/var/macports/logs/_opt_local_var_macports_sources_rsync.macports.org_release_ports_perl_p5-file-basedir/main.log
>>> 
>> 
>> 
>> We would need to see what is in the above-mentioned main.log file to know what went wrong here. I don't see any tickets filed for p5-file-basedir in the issue tracker.
>> 
> 
> Sorry, I wasn't clear.   The salient portion of the main.log file is below.

You pasted part of the log for help2man, so I could refer you to the existing ticket about help2man build problems. But above we're talking about a problem building p5-file-basedir, so I would need to see the p5-file-basedir main.log file to know what went wrong there.


>> help2man is for some reason extremely problematic to install. See this latest ticket:
>> 
>> https://trac.macports.org/ticket/27457
> For what it's worth, one of the posters to the bug tracking page reported that for help2man:
> The problem was that perl's Locale::gettext was not properly installed. Attempting to install it through ports or cpan also failed, complaining of a missing libintl, or being unable to find the gettext libs.
> 
> I was able to install Locale::gettext by obtaining the source, and running
> 
> CC='cc -I/opt/local/include -L/opt/local/lib ' perl Makefile.PL
> 
> before 'make && make install'
> 
> After Locale::gettext was installed, I was able to install help2man through ports.

Yes, I read that note... I don't know how to apply that information to fix the portfile. Or rather, at the moment, help2man is building fine for me, so since I don't know how to make it fail to install, it's hard for me to test any potential fixes. I could suggest some portfile patches that you could try, to see if they resolve the help2man build error for you.

> For me finding and installing the source code for a perl library seems more trouble than it is worth.

Certainly; we don't intend to have you install perl libraries or anything else manually in order to use MacPorts; in fact we specifically recommend not doing that. But it's interesting to know that even for users where the port fails to build for whatever reason, it can build successfully manually. This suggests that a fix is possible, we just don't know it yet.

> I'm starting to  think if I want linux-y type things like GNU software, my best best may be just to install a linux distro in a virtual machine.   I'm digressing off topic here, but just the fact that I have to register as an Apple Developer and give them all sorts of personal information to get Xcode makes me think trying to use the *nix tools with which I am familiar is going to be a pain.   I was hoping I could have the best of both worlds with my Mac, but I'm starting to be pessimistic.    I hope someone will tell me I'm wrong though!

MacPorts is a great way to install UNIXy software on Mac OS X. Mac OS X is a fully POSIX-compliant BSD-based UNIX operating system so it's not so hard to do. Usually there's just a few configure arguments or environment variables needed, and that's the kind of knowledge that's encoded into MacPorts portfile so that you don't have to research it and try it out yourself.

I'm sorry you find Apple's requirements for downloading Xcode inconvenient; you should provide that feedback to Apple, since it's not something we have any control over. If you'd rather not provide that information to Apple, you could also find a copy of Xcode on your Mac OS X DVD, though it's probably outdated.

Certainly, if you like, you could also install Linux or another operating system on your Mac, either replacing Mac OS X, or on a separate partition or hard disk, or in a VM like you said.