Opened 16 years ago

Last modified 10 years ago

#15077 new enhancement

Document that installing other software in /usr/local can break ports

Reported by: ryandesign (Ryan Carsten Schmidt) Owned by: macports-tickets@…
Priority: Normal Milestone:
Component: guide Version:
Keywords: Cc: kurthindenburg (Kurt Hindenburg)
Port:

Description

We often field questions on the mailing lists regarding some port that doesn't install with some obscure error, and this is often the result of rogue software installed in /usr/local. readline is a frequent culprit but any software installed there is a bad idea. The Guide should recommend not having anything installed in /usr/local. Note that having things installed in /usr/local/anything is not a problem at all. For example, having /usr/local/mysql is fine. However having things directly in /usr/local is a problem because the compiler looks there by default and will find libraries that are installed there. So having things in /usr/local/bin and /usr/local/lib for example are problematic and not supported. Users who experience problems and who have the directory /usr/local are advised as a troubleshooting step to rename it (e.g. to /usr/local-off), clean the affected port, and retry the installation. If it succeeds, the software in /usr/local was the culprit. Users are advised to install whatever software they need using MacPorts and remove it from /usr/local.

Attachments (1)

mp-usrlocal.diff (1.3 KB) - added by kurthindenburg (Kurt Hindenburg) 10 years ago.

Download all attachments as: .zip

Change History (6)

comment:1 Changed 16 years ago by afb@…

This goes for /usr too, but presumably the vendor is the only one that install stuff there.

comment:2 Changed 15 years ago by (none)

Milestone: Website & Documentation

Milestone Website & Documentation deleted

comment:3 Changed 10 years ago by mf2k (Frank Schima)

Owner: changed from markd@… to macports-tickets@…

markd has retired. See #44782.

comment:4 Changed 10 years ago by kurthindenburg (Kurt Hindenburg)

Cc: khindenburg@… added

Cc Me!

Changed 10 years ago by kurthindenburg (Kurt Hindenburg)

Attachment: mp-usrlocal.diff added

comment:5 Changed 10 years ago by kurthindenburg (Kurt Hindenburg)

If there's still interest in this, I added this in section 2.2 before 2.2.1

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