Can selfupdate be done incrementally

[Joshua Root]

On 2012-4-7 07:00 , Jeremy Lavergne wrote:
>> I also try to run selfupdate daily (one of my other machines is running
>> Debian & a cron job kicks around 07:45 each morning to run apt-get
>> update so, if I'm awake, I do Mac Ports too) so the number of ports is
>> minimal on an upgrade & if I get a long list of ports, I split them into
>> batches. Not necessary really but I like to keep the machine active on
>> other fronts while they're upgrading as much as possible.
> 
> You can also set MacPort's nice value to make it play nicer (from `man 5 macports.conf`):
>      buildnicevalue
>          Lowered scheduling priority (0-20) to use for make when building
>          ports
>          Default: 0
> 

Raising the nice value helps if you want to do other things with the
machine at the same time as building, as in the above quote. It doesn't
reduce overall system load though.

For the OP worried about heat, a lower buildmakejobs value should help.
I don't know what kind of Energy Saver settings the new minis have, but
if there's any kind of reduced CPU performance setting, that would also
reduce the rate of heat generation.

- Josh