Ports won't install / self update doesn't work

[vash_the__typhoon@…]

I have had macports working for a while, and decided to get the 'gimp - GNU image manipulation program'

#sudo port install gimp2 Error: Unable to execute port: Could not find Portfile in /opt/local/var/macports/sources/rsync.macports.org/release/ports/graphics/openexr I figured that its been a long time since I used it so I tried

#sudo port -d sync which output a whole list of new ports, then tried to get the gimp again

#sudo port install gimp2 Error: Requested variants do not match original selection. Please perform 'port clean gimp2' or specify the force option. Error: Status 1 encountered during processing.

so i followed the instructions

#port clean gimp2

Error: Unable to execute port: /opt/local/var/macports/build/_opt_local_var_macports_sources_rsync.macports.org_release_ports_graphics_gimp2/work/.macports.gimp2.state is not writable - check permission on port directory

Frustrated I tried to update the whole macports system

#sudo port selfupdate

MacPorts base version 1.600 installed

Downloaded MacPorts base version 1.710 Configuring, Building and Installing new MacPorts base Error: /opt/local/bin/port: port selfupdate failed: Error installing new MacPorts base: shell command "cd /opt/local/var/macports/sources/rsync.macports.org/release/base && ./configure --prefix=/opt/local --with-install-user=root --with-install-group=admin --with-tclpackage=/Library/Tcl && make && make install" returned error 1 Command output: checking for /usr/bin/gnutar --no-same-owner support... yes checking how to mark unused variables... checking for gcc symbol visibility attribute... attribute((visibility("hidden"))) checking for the pthreads library -lpthreads... no checking whether pthreads work without any flags... yes checking for joinable pthread attribute... PTHREAD_CREATE_JOINABLE checking if more special flags are required for pthreads... -D_THREAD_SAFE checking how to run the Objective C preprocessor... gcc -E checking for grep that handles long lines and -e... /usr/bin/grep checking for egrep... /usr/bin/grep -E checking for ANSI C header files... yes checking for sys/types.h... yes checking for sys/stat.h... yes checking for stdlib.h... yes checking for string.h... yes checking for memory.h... yes checking for strings.h... yes checking for inttypes.h... yes checking for stdint.h... yes checking for unistd.h... yes checking objc/objc.h usability... yes checking objc/objc.h presence... yes checking for objc/objc.h... yes checking if linking libobjc requires pthreads... no checking for Apple Objective-C runtime... yes checking for GNU Objective C runtime... no configure: Using Apple Objective-C runtime checking for Apple Foundation library... no configure: WARNING: GNUSTEP_SYSTEM_ROOT is not defined in your environment, preventing the use of GNUstep's Foundation library configure: error: Could not find a working Foundation implementation

What does this mean, I've looked around but nothing made sense ... I already had a working version of Macports, now suddenly I can't update it?

What can I do?

Cheers