IntroductionMacPorts is an easy to use system for compiling, installing, and
managing open source software. MacPorts may be conceptually divided into two
main parts: the infrastructure, known as MacPorts base, and the set of
available ports. A MacPorts port is a set of specifications contained in a
Portfile that defines an
application, its characteristics, and any files or special instructions
required to install it. This allows you to use a single command to tell
MacPorts to automatically download, compile, and install applications and
libraries. But using MacPorts to manage your open source software provides
several other significant advantages. For example, MacPorts:Installs automatically any required support software, known as
dependencies, for a given
port.Provides for uninstalls and upgrades for installed ports.Confines ported software to a private sandbox that
keeps it from intermingling with your operating system and its
vendor-supplied software to prevent them from becoming corrupted.Allows you to create pre-compiled binary installers of ported
applications to quickly install software on remote computers without
compiling from source code.MacPorts is developed on Mac OS X, though it is designed to be
portable so it can work on other Unix-like systems, especially those
descended from the Berkeley Software Distribution (BSD).The following notational conventions are used in the MacPorts Guide to
distinguish between terminal input/output, file text, and other special text
types.Terminal I/O and file text.%% Commands to be typed into a terminal window.Command output to a terminal window.File text.Other special text types.A hyperlink: spontaneous
combustion.A file: /var/log/system.log.A command: ifconfig.An option: port