Hopelessly outdated install?

[Brian T. Carcich]

*Context*

I am a consultant
- I have used Macports, but am by no means an expert
- with only SSH-only access,
- root access (via sudo)
- brought in to build a particular X-windows app on this Mac
  - Motif (libXm) is one missing piece of the puzzle (at least)
  - the app builds elsewhere with little trouble, including my ancient
AirBook, but I have that in my hot little hands
Darwin 16.7.0 ca. June, 2017, x86_64-apple-darwin16.7.0
Xcode version [gcc --version]:  Apple LLVM version 9.0.0 (clang-900-0.39.2)
Macports version:  1.9.2, under /opt/local/*/macports/
- 13 ports total

*So far ...*

Finally got [selfupdate] to finish by changing rsync_dir in macports.conf
- per https://trac.macports.org/ticket/53414
- but it still says "base version 1.9.2 installed," and "Warning: No
version file found, please rerun selfupdate," and "MacPorts base is
probably trunk or a release candidate"
- [-d selfupdate] fails to parse 11 of the 13 ports

[upgrade outdated] yields "Error: Unable to open port: invalid command name
'port::register_callback'"
- nothing useful from The Google so far
- [-d] output below



*My question*

My gut feel is that this is a hopelessly outdated installation of
Macports.  Rather than shaving the yak and googling as each new problem
crops up, is it reasonable to consider removing whatever Macport is there
and starting over?  I am not even confident that the [uninstall] option
would work.
N.B. [uninstall] is not a solution if the SSH daemon is a Macport, as I
would lose access.

Or do I need someone local to the machine to poke around from the GUI or
RDP?

Thanks in advance,

Brian Carcich


*Output of [-d ugrade outdated]*

ncursesw (5.8_0 is installed; the port was not found in the port index)
DEBUG: epoch: in tree: 0 installed: 0
DEBUG: gmp 6.2.0_1 exists in the ports tree
DEBUG: gmp 5.0.1_1  is the latest installed
DEBUG: gmp 5.0.1_1  is active
DEBUG: Merging existing variants '' into variants
DEBUG: new fully merged portvariants:
DEBUG: Changing to port directory:
/opt/local/var/macports/sources/rsync.macports.org/release/ports/devel/gmp
DEBUG: OS darwin/16.7.0 (Mac OS X 11.2) arch i386
DEBUG: org.macports.load registered provides 'load', a pre-existing
procedure. Target override will not be provided
DEBUG: org.macports.unload registered provides 'unload', a
pre-existing procedure. Target override will not be provided
DEBUG: org.macports.distfiles registered provides 'distfiles', a
pre-existing procedure. Target override will not be provided
DEBUG: Using group file
/opt/local/var/macports/sources/rsync.macports.org/release/ports/_resources/port1.0/group/muniversal-1.0.tcl
DEBUG: Reading variant descriptions from
/opt/local/var/macports/sources/rsync.macports.org/release/ports/_resources/port1.0/variant_descriptions.conf
DEBUG: Using group file
/opt/local/var/macports/sources/rsync.macports.org/release/ports/_resources/port1.0/group/xcode_workaround-1.0.tcl
DEBUG: Using group file
/opt/local/var/macports/sources/rsync.macports.org/release/ports/_resources/port1.0/group/cltversion-1.0.tcl
DEBUG: invalid command name "port::register_callback"
    while executing
"port::register_callback xcode_workaround::xcode_workaround.appy_fix"
    (file "/opt/local/var/macports/sources/rsync.macports.org/release/ports/_resources/port1.0/group/xcode_workaround-1.0.tcl"
line 132)
    invoked from within
"source /opt/local/var/macports/sources/rsync.macports.org/release/ports/_resources/port1.0/group/xcode_workaround-1.0.tcl"
    ("uplevel" body line 1)
    invoked from within
"uplevel "source $groupFile""
    (procedure "PortGroup" line 8)
    invoked from within
"PortGroup               xcode_workaround 1.0"
    (file "Portfile" line 5)
    invoked from within
"source Portfile"
    invoked from within
"$workername eval source Portfile"
    (procedure "mportopen" line 49)
    invoked from within
"mportopen $porturl [array get interp_options] [array get variations]"
Error: Unable to open port: invalid command name "port::register_callback"
To report a bug, see <http://guide.macports.org/#project.tickets>
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