/opt/local/macports/software

[Ryan Schmidt]

On Jan 19, 2015, at 3:42 AM, Akim Demaille wrote:
> 
>> Le 19 janv. 2015 à 10:34, Ryan Schmidt a écrit :
>> 
>> Please Reply All so that the discussion stays on the mailing list.
> 
> Hmmm, I did.
> 
>> Of note is that MacPorts used to not do this, or rather, using these archives used to be optional, and not the default. Previously, the default was that the contents of /opt/local/var/macports/software was the actual software being installed. Hard links would then be created in the "real" locations. This did not waste disk space, however various new features of OS X interacted badly with this, including Spotlight as of OS X v10.4 and Time Machine as of OS X v10.5, so we were forced to remove the previous mode of operation and insist on using archives instead.
> 
> OK.
> 
> So maybe we could reconsider the existence of this feature, or at least,
> the fact that its mandatory.

If I remember correctly, the code for the old way with hard links was removed from MacPorts. There is no way to go back to that method, without rewriting the code.

>> I am not familiar with what other package management systems do.
> 
> Well, apt-get and the rest have no such equivalent.  They just deploy
> the software, period.  They don't keep a copy at hand, just in case.
> And yes, there's no acivate/deactivate (that I know of).

If your installed files have become damaged, for example because a third-party installer overwrote them, it's very nice to be able to fix it by simply deactivating and re-activating the port.

apt-get is not typically used on OS X, which is the platform where concerns regarding Spotlight and Time Machine occur. It would be more interesting to compare against the other OS X package managers, Homebrew or Fink.