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