Packages ignoring applications_dir

[Scott Webster]

On Thu, Sep 8, 2011 at 7:06 PM, Bryan Blackburn <blb at macports.org> wrote:
> On Thu, Sep 08, 2011 at 06:52:22PM -0700, Scott Webster said:
>> It forces a build from source if you use a non-standard prefix?  Wouldn't it
>> be straightforward to just replicate the same files into an alternate
>> location?  The situation here seems slightly more complex since we're
>> outside the $prefix/ tree...
>
> Yup, if your prefix is not /opt/local, port always builds from source.
> Libraries and executables both have hardcoded paths in them (you can use
> 'otool -L /some/lib/or/executable' to see) so building to one location then
> moving will definitely break things.
>
> There are also some ports with things like ${prefix}/etc and other paths
> compiled into binaries, config files with paths, and so on.  All of that
> means relocating would be a mess at best...
>

Thanks for the explanation!  I guess now to complete my education I
should go look up how Mac OS X deals with moving application bundles
around...

Scott