During Migration to Arm64 mac, should I null out archs='x86_64' from installed ports list?

[chilli.namesake at gmail.com]

> On Apr 14, 2022, at 14:56, Peter Serocka <peserocka at gmail.com> wrote:
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>> On Apr 14, 2022, at 14:10, chilli.namesake at gmail.com wrote:
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>> Thinking more about upgrading, maybe there's an Xcode version issue? MacPorts requires Xcode's command line tools. Though a newer version of macOS can run older and outdated versions of Xcode, after upgrading the OS, the user will often find Xcode greyed out with the circle with the line through it. Upgrading macOS didn't used to do this, but it apparently does now. There are steps (or tricks) available now to get older Xcode versions working with a newer mismatched macOS version. But I bet that's why port is choking after upgrade: maybe port still works, but the upgrade broke Xcode, so port chokes. A wild guess.
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> Xcode version mismatch issues do exist in some situations, and I have been dealing with those; but my point here is that the port command itself refuses to do any further work after a major macOS upgrade. It chokes quite early, inside proc mportinit found in <prefix>/libexec/macports/lib/macports1.0/macports.tclmacports.tcl
> and the error message is:
> 
> Error: Current platform "darwin 19" does not match expected platform "darwin 18"
> Error: If you upgraded your OS, please follow the migration instructions: https://trac.macports.org/wiki/Migration
> OS platform mismatch
>    while executing
> "mportinit ui_options global_options global_variations"
> Error: /opt/macports18/bin/port: Failed to initialize MacPorts, OS platform mismatch
> 
> Which prevents further upgrades or installs in the existing tree. 
> 
> (Sadly one can't even run a "port installed" or a "port requested" at this point, in case one missed to capture these for reference before the macOS upgrade. Just noted as an aside; as this will happen with either prefix, default or custom.)
> 

I see. MacPorts likes to know things. I seriously doubt it is recommended, but I'll bet someone on the list knows where you can edit a config and change what platform MacPorts expects to see. I have done similar to port files to get newer ports to install on older systems, same kind of hack but... reversed and for all ports rather than one.

Personally I don't take any issues with starting over. MacPorts is scriptable. So you run port requested on your current install and look at what you have installed, and create a simple script to install all those ports after you upgrade macOS, reinstall Xcode (double check what version goes with what macOS release) and MacPorts. Personally, I love building software, love to watch the standard output fly across the screen for as long as it takes, probably because I'm not a developer. Everyone seems to be sensitive towards those that are too busy to roll their own, and having binaries available is really a good thing, because sometimes the binary will install when the port won't build (for whatever reason, but probably my fault, but if there's no bug, I only see it after the system gets really old, like in a 10yo Mac OS X). Then I need direction, which I've gotten here.