MacPorts on multiple Macs

Rodolfo Aramayo raramayo at gmail.com
Sat Oct 13 00:34:04 PDT 2012


Hi Petra,

Regarding your question

Do not do that

I currently manage >15 computers with MacPorts installed and I can
tell you that each machine is a universe on its own. Even those who
are 'identical' at the hardware and software level they are not really
absolutely equivalent and that depends on the software installed. In
the past I tried simplifying my life by designing strategies to keep
all 'identical' machines in sync, but it did not really work. I
observed very erratic and unexplained behaviors. The way I 'solved'
those problems is by installing everything locally on each machine and
letting each box compile its software

Even little details like the order you created the users on the
machines can have drastic consequences for the assigned UIDs the
system gives each user and that can result in all kinds of unexpected
permission problems. Software updates by Apple could also change
according to the software installed on each machine from machine to
machine in ways we cannot really know in advance

Simplify

My two cents

--R


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