Port install never uses packages, always compiles from source - why?

[Lothar Haeger]

> One thing that I've learned (thanks to people like Ryan and you etc) is to *never* touch MacPorts unless you are aware of the consequences.  It's not that it's fragile -- far from it -- it's just that there are few user-serviceable parts inside.

Well, thats the point: the conf files *are* the user-serviceable parts by definition. But the consequence of changing those parameters are not explicitly mentioned anywhere I'm aware of - certainly not in https://trac.macports.org/wiki/FAQ <https://trac.macports.org/wiki/FAQ> or in macports.conf, where they are set:

> # Directory under which MacPorts should install ports. This must be
> # where MacPorts itself is installed.
> prefix                  /opt/local
> 
> # Directory for application bundles installed by ports.
> applications_dir        /Applications
> 
> # Directory for frameworks installed by ports.
> frameworks_dir          /opt/local/Library/Frameworks

I'll file a ticket to add this to the comments in macports.conf and the FAQ, or maybe even send a pull request.

Which leaves the question: can it be fixed and make archives work with customized locations, at least for "applications_dir"? Probably rather a question for the dev mailing list…
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