M a c P o r t s

  1. Definition & References

    Mac Ports is a Command Line Program available on OS X operating systems - see also lexicon entry.
    A MacPorts port file defines an application, its characteristics and any files or special instructions required to install it. Currently available ports are listed here. Normally users want to activate the latest version of their software. MacPorts helps them achieving this goal by upgrading the associated port (and, if necessary, all ones on which it depends). Following sources are available:

  2. Useful commands

    (Console) Command Short description
    port

    If invoked alone - without identifying an action to perform, also designated als target - port enters the interactive mode - expects commands via stdin. I don't use the interactive mode, since I do not maintain ports by myself. If the interactive modus has been unintentionally activated, type quit to exit.

    port help {action}

    Action help

    • If action {action} is specified, gives information about it.
    • If no action is specified, returns general informations about the syntax, which contains only two elements: port <action> <port-name>
      1. If a port command is viewed as a sentence, action would be the verb: it defines 'what to do'.
      2. A port name defines the object on which the action applies. In the simplest case it bears the name of the software package targeted. Beware: Often more than just the port name is required to completely define the package to install e.g. if the package is configurable, the user may have to specify variants. In his daily practice the user does not bother with single packages. He wants to operate on a set of ports with specific properties e.g. he want to upgrade all installed package that are currently outdated. MacPorts supports two features for manipulation of sets of ports:

    sudo port selfupdate

    Action selfupdate

    selfupdate updates the local ports tree with the global MacPorts ports repository to get the latest versions of the software packages registered. It also checks for new releases of MacPorts itself, and upgrades it when necessary.

    Note that in Unix systems this action requires superuser privileges (command sudo), as for all actions changing directories outside the user domain.

    sudo upgrade outdated

    Action upgrade

    Action upgrade updates ports. If port name outdated (a so called pseudo-name) is given, then the outdated part of the installed ports is targeted. In order to identify the outdated ports, action selfupdate must have been launched previously.

    Tab. Selection of useful port commands

    Remarks:

    • I installed the port binaries, not the sources, since I am not interested in maintaining several versions of MacPorts. By default, on my system (OS X , darwin), port is stored in folder /opt/local/bin/port.

    • Also, I have only downloaded open source binaries so far: I don't need to maintain several versions of installed ports.

  3. Maintained Software

    Name Short description
    Tab. Selection of programs maintained by MacPorts