Archives and version updates

[Ryan Schmidt]

> On Nov 17, 2014, at 10:34 AM, Artur Szostak wrote:
> 
>>> I have managed to build my own MacPorts archive for some software we are want to try distribute to our Mac users. However, I wonder how one is supposed to deal with version updates to the software. The documentation is clear enough about updating the Portfiles. But how is the archive supposed to be updated? Can an archive have multiple Portfile version and binary packages? Is there documentation about this that I have missed?
>> 
>> Exactly what do you mean by "archive"? Are you talking about what is created by running "sudo port mpkg ..."? If so, then when the version of the software or any of its dependencies change, just re-run "sudo port mpkg ..." to create a new package.
> 
> By archive I mean the locations in:
> /opt/local/etc/macports/archive_sites.conf
> what I understand to be kind of the MacPorts equivalent to a binary RPM repository.

Ok, well an archive is for a single software package, and the archive name includes the version number, among other things, so when a new version is released, a new archive is created, which has the new version number in it.

Archives are meant for MacPorts to use. So you shouldn't need to change archive_sites.conf, unless you are providing MacPorts portfiles of software, and MacPorts-compatible archives of that software, that you want users to install using MacPorts, but that you do not want to contribute to the MacPorts central portfile repository.

If you're looking for a way to build software using MacPorts and distribute it to users in such a way that they can install it without using MacPorts, that's what port pkg and mpkg and dmg are for.