Thanks all for the discussion. Ryan-- the point is not that MacPorts (or Fink, for that matter) installs in random places; each installs in their own directory hierarchy (/sw for fink, /opt/local for MacPorts). The problems arise if a package in one realm links to a library in the other--especially if the library versions and features differ. Which explains why the safe route is to move the "other" directory while using the first one. Now I understand how to play with fire.
David --- On Mon, 1/19/09, Shreevatsa R <[email protected]> wrote: > From: Shreevatsa R <[email protected]> > Subject: Re: Steps to ensure compatibility between fink and macports > To: "Ryan Schmidt" <[email protected]> > Cc: [email protected], "MacPorts Users" > <[email protected]> > Date: Monday, January 19, 2009, 4:16 PM > On Mon, Jan 19, 2009 at 6:26 PM, Ryan Schmidt > <[email protected]> wrote: > > On Jan 19, 2009, at 10:01, Shreevatsa R wrote: > > > >> On Sat, Jan 17, 2009 at 3:58 AM, Ryan Schmidt > wrote: > >> > >>> On Jan 17, 2009, at 01:12, David T. wrote: > >>> > >>>> Has anyone got a clear set of steps and > guidelines for me to > >>>> follow to try using macports without > messing up fink? > >>> > >>> Rename fink's /sw directory to something > else. That should ensure it does > >>> not interfere with MacPorts. > >>> > >>> You should only use software installed via one > package manager at a time > >>> -- > >>> either Fink, or MacPorts, not both. > >> > >> Er, I don't think this is true. You don't > have to do *anything* to > >> ensure Fink and MacPorts don't intefere with > each other. They are both > >> designed to not interfere with the rest of the > system, so if they do > >> interfere with each other, it's a bug in one > of them. > >> > >> In my experience (and that of others) it works > perfectly to use both > >> Fink and MacPorts simultaneously; installing > packages from whichever > >> of the two happens to have a working version. (But > do care about what > >> you do to your environment variables like $PATH: > Fink's > >> /sw/bin/init.sh is a bit heavy-handed.) > >> > >> Of course I'm just a user and don't know > very much of the internals of > >> either, so maybe someone can correct me if I'm > wrong. > > > > There are software packages out there, for which we > have ports in MacPorts, > > that will, in an attempt to find the dependent > libraries they need, always > > look in /opt/local and /sw to find them. So if you > have the same library > > installed with both Fink and MacPorts, it's > possible a MacPorts port will > > link with the library from Fink, or the other way > around. To prevent that, > > we would have to know which software packages do this > and patch them in > > MacPorts to not do that. Since we do not know which > software packages do > > this, the safe course of action is to explain that it > is not supported to > > use Fink and MacPorts at the same time. "Not > supported" means you can still > > do it, but we will not necessarily help you with > problems you encounter as a > > result. > > I understand; that makes sense. It seems the same as the > /usr/local > problem again, with packages not being prevented from > looking in > places they shouldn't be looking, and potentially > causing problems as > a result. I guess it's worth investigating chroot and > -nostdinc. The > latter has been around since gcc 2.7.2.2 at least, which is > more than > 10 years old: it should be safe to use. > > [Technically, it should be considered a bug if a port > isn't patched to > prevent its looking in /sw. Some ports do handle this, e.g. > http://trac.macports.org/browser/trunk/dports/net/pidgin/files/patch-configure.ac.diff > :-)] > > Wrt the original question: I think MacPorts never installs > anything > outside /opt/local, so while a existing Fink installation > can result > in broken MacPorts ports, using MacPorts will not affect > the > functioning Fink installation itself. Is this correct? _______________________________________________ macports-users mailing list [email protected] http://lists.macosforge.org/mailman/listinfo.cgi/macports-users
