Installing MacPorts

Introduction

This document describes the process for installing MacPorts, based on the MacPorts Installation Guide.  There are also more instructions in the MacPorts Documentation.  All options and alternatives are not described here, just one relatively simple way of installing MacPorts.

The GPG signatures for the installer can be downloaded from https://distfiles.macports.org/MacPorts/

Installing X11

Apple's X11 is installed as standard on Leopard (10.5) and Snow Leopard (10.6).  On Tiger (10.4) it is an optional install.  It can be installed from the original installation DVDs.

Both the X11 and X11SDK are needed.  The X11SDK is part of the Xcode Tools package (see the Xcode Tools section below).  You can check whether these are installed by looking for com.apple.pkg.X11User.bom and com.apple.pkg.X11SDKLeo.bom in /Library/Receipts/boms/.  On Mac OS X 10.4, the files are named X11User.pkg and X11SDK.pkg in /Library/Receipts/.

The following command should list these packages, if found:

Note: Only tested on Tiger.

    $ find -E /Library/Receipts -regex '.*(com\.apple\.pkg\.X11(User|SDKLeo)\.bom|X11(User|SDK)\.pkg)'

Xcode Tools

Whilst the Xcode Tools package is included on the installation DVDs, it is recommended to download the latest version from the Apple Developer's Connection website.  You have to register to download the tools.  The free membership package suffices our needs.  Note: The Xcode Tools package is a significant download size.  The download sizes are shown against each download link.

Install the Xcode Tools and X11 SDK packages as follows:

  1. Login to the Apple Developer Connection

  2. Follow the link to the "Downloads" section

  3. Select "Developer Tools" from the "Downloads" side bar

  4. Search the Developer Tools page for the latest version of Xcode for your version of Mac OS X

    At the time of writing, the versions are:

    Mac OS X Xcode Tools Version --------------- ------------------- 10.4 Tiger 2.5 10.5 Leopard 3.1.4 10.6 Snow Leopard 3.2.1

  5. Run the Xcode Tools package installer

  6. Select the "Customize" option and open the "Applications" category and ensure that the "X11 SDK" option is selected

  7. Make sure the command line development option is also selected

  8. Select the "Install" option

MacPorts

To install the binary version of MacPorts:

  1. Download the latest MacPorts-1.x.x.dmg disk image from the MacPorts download directory.  Don't choose those containing -rc or -beta in their file name.

  2. Run the installer choosing the "easy" installation option

That's it.  MacPorts is now installed.

Managing Ports

Updating/Upgrading

Run sudo port selfupdate periodically to update the local ports tree with the global MacPorts repository.

Then run sudo port upgrade outdated to upgrade any outdated installed ports.

Querying

Ports needing update:

$ sudo port selfupdate
$ port outdated

Installed ports:

$ port -qv installed

Ports specifically requested for installation:

$ port -qv installed requested

For a unique list, with duplicates removed:

$ port -qv installed requested | cut -d ' ' -f 4 | sort | uniq

Show list of installed files for a port

$ port -q contents <portname>

Ports that have older versions that could be removed

$ port installed inactive

Find which port a file belongs to:

$ port provides /path/to/file

Uninstall

$ sudo port uninstall <portname>

Consider also using the --follow-dependencies to also remove automatically installed dependencies that are not longer being used.

Uninstall a specific version:

$ sudo port uninstall ghc @7.8.3_4

Uninstall all inactive ports (ports with newer versions installed):

$ sudo port uninstall inactive

Cleanup

Remove build files for failed build:

$ sudo port clean gpsbabel

Remove unused automatically installed dependencies:

$ port echo leaves
$ sudo port uninstall --follow-dependencies leaves

Mark as not Requested

$ sudo port unsetrequested <portname>

Installing Older Port Versions

Essentially, if you still have the older version installed, simply execute sudo port activate ${PACKAGE} @${VERSION}, otherwise refer to the Macports Wiki page titled InstallingOlderPort.

port -v installed ossp-uuid will list the currently installed versions.

sudo port activate <portname> will list available versions and prompt for a choice.

Deactivate a port

$ sudo port deactivate <portname>

Builds

Applications are built under /opt/local/var/macports/build/

Building Modified Portfile

These notes use information from 'MacPorts wiki—How to install an older version of a port' and 'Chapter 7, MacPorts Project' of the MacPorts Guide.

  1. Clone the MacPorts git repository, e.g. git clone --depth 1 https://github.com/macports/macports-ports.git

  2. Create and checkout a new working branch, e.g. git checkout -b git-fix

  3. Modify the Portfile and create patches as desired. Increment the revision attribute in the Portfile.

  4. Change the working directory to that of the Portfile being build, e.g. cd devel/git

  5. Check the Portfile syntax

    $ port lint --nitpick

  6. Optionally run any existing tests

    $ sudo port test

  7. Build the port. Note that the port name is excluded from the command.

    $ sudo port install -vst

  8. The port should be installed with the new revision, e.g.:

    $ port -qv installed git

If submitting a patch to the MacPorts project, follow the MacPorts guide on contributing to MacPorts and the guidelines for commit messages.

Migration—After Upgrading macOS

Make sure you also upgrade Xcode to the latest version that supports the macOS that you're interested in. Also, check the MacPorts wiki under the 'MacPorts Support' section which should have an item 'Problems with ports on specific releases of the Mac operating system'. It's probably a really good idea to check that before deciding to upgrade.

See https://trac.macports.org/wiki/Migration

Usage Statistics

See http://stats.macports.neverpanic.de/faq

Trouble-shooting

qlandkartegt port fails to build gpsbabel

Either download and install the Mac OS X version of GPSBabel from https://www.gpsbabel.org/download.html or install the gpsbabel port first.

On macOS 10.12 Sierra, gpsbabel can be built as follows:

$ sudo port install gpsbabel +qt4

-- Frank Dean - 31 Mar 2017

Builds failing to find stdlib

See:

Tk Deprecation Warning in macOS 10.15 (Catalina) running gitk

DEPRECATION WARNING: The system version of Tk is deprecated and may be removed in a future release. Please don't rely on it. Set TK_SILENCE_DEPRECATION=1 to suppress this warning.

Resovled by installing the GUI toolkit for Tcl, Tk. MacPorts provides this in the tk package.

$ sudo port install tk

-- Frank Dean - 06 Jan 2020

Gitk Blank Views

When quitting gitk, the following error message is displayed:

Error in startup script: window "." was deleted before its visibility changed
    while executing
"tkwait visibility ."

This is an issue with tk and tcl version 8.6.11. Activating the older 8.6.10 versions may resolve the issue as a temporary workaround.

See also:

Java version not detected

References

-- Frank Dean - 07 Feb 2010

Related Topics: AppleMaciBook, EmacsTips, InstallingKitlistMacOSX, MacKeyboardTips, Xcode