On Jun 25, 2007, at 20:12, paul beard wrote:
"gnome" doesn't install any software;
so when I type "port install gnome" nothing happens? Not how I
remember it ;-)
I think we're talking past each other or caught on some semantic
nuance.
Yes, I am trying to make a semantic point here. I'm saying that the
"gnome" port itself does not install any software. The "gnome" port
only depends on other ports which install software. "gnome" depends
on "gnome-desktop-suite" which depends on 60 other ports, each of
which installs one piece of software, such that, if you "sudo port
install gnome", you get 60 (or more) ports installed.
I tried to point out that the "php5" port also does this. So "php5"
is already the meta-port you request -- except that, as I've pointed
out, php cannot know whether you want apache 1 or apache2, mysql4 or
mysql5, or any of the other options that are available, which is why
you must "sudo port install php5 +apache2 +mysql5" if that is what
you want. The same applies to every port. Examine the available
variants and select the ones that apply to you.
My position is that it should be simpler to install inter-related
components, as a single bundled meta-port, if that's what the user
wants. For the life of me, I can't imagine installing MySQL without
wanting the startup components installed. But be that as it may, I
think there are ways to accommodate everyone.
Then let me explain a scenario in which that would be desirable.
Consider a server farm of 10 machines, 9 of which are web servers
with PHP support, and one of which is a MySQL database server to
which the 9 web servers connect. The 1 MySQL server must "sudo port
install mysql5 +server" in order to run the MySQL server process. The
9 web servers need their PHP configured with MySQL support, so that
they can connect to the MySQL server machine, but they do not
themselves need MySQL servers running on them. So on those 9 web
servers, it is sufficient to say "sudo port install php5 +apache2
+mysql5" and let MacPorts find and install the apache2 and mysql5
ports with their default variants.
In your case, where you want to run a MySQL server on the same
machine on which you're installing php5, the default variants for
mysql5 unfortunately do not make sense, so you need to install mysql5
first with the variants you want (+server).
As I said in my last message, I agree with you, and have argued in
previous threads, that mysql5 should be a server by default, since
that is the most common case, I think, and I ask James Berry, who is
my comaintainer on mysql5, for his input before proceeding.
If I request that the ports system install the meta-port
"amp" (apache/mysql/php), that port depends on apache with the php
DSO, mysql server with the client libraries, and php with its hooks
to connect to MySQL. I don't think anyone can argue that not being
able to do this has caused a lot more traffic on this list than
necessary.
sudo port install php5 +apache2 +mysql5
does that -- except for getting mysql5 installed as a server. This is
because:
a) you currently need to specify a variant to mysql5 to get it
installed as a server; as I've said, I'd also like that to change;
b) a port cannot depend on a specific variant of another port; it can
only depend on the existence of the other port. This is issue #126
which was, regrettably, filed 5 years ago:
http://trac.macosforge.org/projects/macports/ticket/126
c) even if it were possible to depend on a specific variant, as I
explained in the scenario above, it would not be proper for php5
+mysql5 to depend on the +server variant of mysql5.
This is probably a topic for the dev list: perhaps jberry@ can take
it over there and see what anyone thinks of it.
There's no request here that needs to be handled by -dev -- no
improvement to base necessary. If your request is for a meta-port
that installs php5 and mysql5 and apache2, then the php5 port already
does that for you. If your request is that mysql5 should be a server
by default, then I agree, and let's wait for James to have a chance
to respond to that.
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