MacPorts
This document contains information about MacPorts, a project that packages software so that it can be built on Mac OS X using the "Developer Tools" (or "Xcode Tools") environment provided by Apple.
MacPorts is an alternative to Fink because its packages often are more up-to-date than those of Fink. MacPorts and Fink can co-exist on the same system.
Documentation
- http://www.macports.org/install.php (installation instructions)
- https://trac.macports.org/wiki/FAQ (has basic help for when a package fails to build)
- http://guide.macports.org/ (comprehensive end user help)
- https://trac.macports.org/report/16?PORT=digikam (show open tickets for a specific ticket, "digikam" in this example)
Installation
Prerequisites
Because MacPorts compiles many things from source, Apple's developer tools should be installed before anything sensible can be done with MacPorts. This includes
- Xcode
- Apple's Command Line Developer Tools (can be installed from within Xcode, under Preferences > Downloads)
I also prefer to have an X11 installation on the system before starting with MacPorts. This can be either the version provided by Apple, or XQuartz. I usually have XQuartz so that I can run up-to-date versions of The Gimp.
Installation
Installation is simply done via a Mac OS X .pkg installer. Similar to Fink, MacPorts tries not to interfere with the rest of the system, and therefore installs into this path:
/opt/local
The installation process will update your shell environment (in my case ~/.profile) to modify the PATH environment variable like this:
export PATH=/opt/local/bin:/opt/local/sbin:$PATH
After installation, you should therefore make sure that you open a new terminal session to get the updated environment. The first command that should then be issued is
sudo port -v selfupdate
Files and Folders
The actual packages (known as "Ports") are located under
/opt/local/var/macports/sources/rsync.macports.org/release/tarballs/ports
The configuration file is this one
/opt/local/etc/macports/macports.conf
Usage
To update the installed packages
sudo port selfupdate # updates the port descriptions sudo port upgrade outdated # upgrade installed ports
To list all ports known to MacPorts
port list
To list all installed ports
port installed port list installed # slower but with more details
To list all versions of a specific port (including older versions that are currently not active)
port installed foo
To find out which port installed a file (`dpkg -S` in Debian)
port provides /path/to/file
To see a description of a specific port
port info foo
To install a package (or "port")
sudo port install foo
Special instructions for installing certain packages
Git
Git by default is compiled without SVN support (i.e. the git-svn command is not available). Use this command to get SVN support:
sudo port install git-core +svn
(preceded by sudo port deactivate git-core if Git is already installed)
Troubleshooting
Getting and building an older revision of a port
If the older revision of the port has been built and installed before, you can simply reactivate it:
sudo port activate foo @1.2.3_0
Get rid of the currently installed version of the port:
sudo port uninstall foo
Check out which revision you need by inspecting a port's history in the Subversion repository
https://trac.macports.org/log/trunk/dports
On the command line, get the revision you need
svn checkout -r 123456 https://svn.macports.org/repository/macports/trunk/dports/path/to/port
Now install the port
cd foo # the SVN working folder that you just checked out sudo port install
Unable to execute port: could not read /path/to/port: permission denied
When trying to install a "local" port, i.e. one that is not in its normal path under /opt/local, I had the following error:
nargothrond:~/Desktop/libgphoto2-2.4.11 --> sudo port install Error: Unable to execute port: could not read "/Users/admin/Desktop/libgphoto2-2.4.11/Portfile": permission denied
This is due to MacPorts running as non-privileged user during a port installation. The problem is probably not the missing permission on the file itself that is being reported, but missing permission on one of the parent folders. In the example above, I was able to fix the problem by moving the local port folder to /tmp.