macports_fastload.tcl: too many levels of symbolic links

[alantech@…]

After installing MacPorts 2.0.1 on a new machine (i.e. no prior version installed,) I get the following error messages in trying to access the port command for anything:

couldn't read file "/opt/local/share/macports/Tcl/macports1.0/macports_fastload.tcl": too many levels of symbolic links
    while executing
"source [file join "/opt/local/share/macports/Tcl" macports1.0 macports_fastload.tcl]"
    (file "/opt/local/bin/port" line 37)

In examining /opt/local/share/macports/Tcl/macports1.0, I find that it is a symlink that points to /opt/local/share/macports/Tcl/macports1.0, in other words, a circular link.

[jmroot (Joshua Root)]

How did you install?

[alantech@…]

Replying to jmr@…:

How did you install?

Fresh install onto a new system with Lion pre-installed using the DMG package.

[vulcan_@…]

I see the same problem updating from pre-2.0 version macports to version 2.0.1 via selfupdate. I am on Snow Leopard 10.6.8

I have attached the verbose output of the selfupdate. I have not been able to isolate the place where it blows away the folder and replaces it with the bad link .. but it must be in there somewhere.

[vulcan_@…]

verbose output of "port selfupdate"

[alton@…]

I as well am having this problem with Lion. I have tried with 2.0.1 (both source and install binary) as well as 2.0.0 (also both source and binary). Both fail with this same error. I originally tried to do a selfupdate, however this failed with this error. I was unable to uninstall macports as it was broken so I deleted the various paths to start over (/opt/local/...). I am curious if this a problem for all of us Lions out there or is it a subset of us that are broken.

And yes everytime I see the bad link. :-)

[alton@…]

Tried removing and installing xcode as well as checking out the latest from SVN. Still same error.

[ryandesign (Ryan Carsten Schmidt)]

I'm sure I've fielded this question before recently, but I cannot find it now. I presume the problem is that /opt/local/share/macports/Tcl/macports1.0 is a symlink to itself? Or is it that /opt/local/share/macports/Tcl is a symlink to /Library/Tcl? A solution to that would be to remove /opt/local/share/macports/Tcl and install MacPorts again.

[alantech@…]

Replying to ryandesign@…:

I'm sure I've fielded this question before recently, but I cannot find it now. I presume the problem is that /opt/local/share/macports/Tcl/macports1.0 is a symlink to itself? Or is it that /opt/local/share/macports/Tcl is a symlink to /Library/Tcl? A solution to that would be to remove /opt/local/share/macports/Tcl and install MacPorts again.

No joy. The file is created as a symlink to itself. And before you ask, /Library/Tcl does not exist and is not created by the install.

[macports.good@…]

I've fully removed Xcode and Macports from my system, then reinstalled Xcode, then Macports, and I get this issue as well. I've tried the latest version, as well as svn trunk, and 2.0.0, all with the exact same circular symlink.

[alton@…]

Tried with 2.0.3 and it still doesn't work. Still have the "/opt/local/share/macports/Tcl/macports1.0 -> /opt/local/share/macports/Tcl/macports1.0" symlink.

I have dug and dug on this and can't find the issue. Does anyone have a clue? The inability to use all my ports or reinstall them (I removed them in my uninstall/ reinstall troubleshooting method) is a pretty big issue. Any word from the maintainer? Does this work for others and all of us on here are tickling some pesky bug?

[ryandesign (Ryan Carsten Schmidt)]

I've installed MacPorts using the dmg and compiled by hand on many Macs over the years and never seen this problem so I'm still a bit in the dark about it.

@macports.good: How did you remove Xcode and MacPorts? What version of Xcode did you reinstall? How did you reinstall MacPorts? If compiled by hand, what configure arguments? Did you specify --with-tclpackage? If not, does the problem resolve if you do (e.g. --with-tclpackage=/opt/local/share/macports/Tcl)? What OS version?

[macports.good@…]

I removed MacPorts with the nuclear option:

sudo rm -v -rf /opt/local /Applications/DarwinPorts /Applications/MacPorts /Library/LaunchDaemons/org.macports.* /Library/Receipts/DarwinPorts*.pkg /Library/Receipts/MacPorts*.pkg /Library/StartupItems/DarwinPortsStartup /Library/Tcl/darwinports1.0 /Library/Tcl/macports1.0 ~/.macports /opt/mports /private/var/db/receipts/org.macports.MacPorts.*

Same with Xcode:

/Library/Developer/4.1/uninstall-devtool; rm -rf /Library/Developer/;

Then, I downloaded and installed the latest version of Xcode from the App Store, then installed MacPorts from MacPorts-2.0.3-10.7-Lion.dmg. What I end up with is a broken soft link at /opt/local/share/macports/Tcl/macports1.0 and the file macports_fastload.tcl exists nowhere on my system.

[blb@…]

Output from Installer.app should be in /var/log/install.log; can you attach the last MacPorts install output from that file (not the whole file since it'll show lots of other stuff)?

[macports.good@…]

install.log for MacPorts-2.0.3 on Lion

[macports.good@…]

It seems that in addition to the "nuclear option" I used above, I needed to also completely delete /Library/Tcl (which seemed to be a broken link), then I ran the installer and everything works.

I also tested installing in a virtual machine with a fresh install of Lion, and it worked fine. So the issue somehow seems to be upgrading from Snow Leopard to Lion.

[vulcan_@…]

please note my input from 6 weeks back .. i tried to upgrade my macports 1.9.6 installation to 2.0.1 and saw the same failure. I restored the /opt/local/shared/macports dir from Time Machine and tried it again with 2.0.3 .. still have the same problem. I was NOT doing an OS upgrade .. i was on Snow Leopard only.

[macports.good@…]

Right, lost my head there for a bit - this happens when upgrading from 1.x to 2.x, not during OS update. I was able to install 1.x using SVN on Lion, then did an upgrade, and had the same problem.

[alantech@…]

My install log from MacPorts 2.0.3 on Lion 10.7.1

[alton@…]

I too had done the "Nuclear" option several times to no avail. I had however not noticed the broken link at '/Library/Tcl'.

I removed the broken Tcl link as well as macports. Once that was done I checked out the latest from SVN configured and compiled it. Now it appears to work fine.

All along it was the fact that '/Library/Tcl' was pointing to a path under '/opt/local/...' somewhere that no longer existed.

Thanks macports.good@…, you pointed me in the right direction.

[larryv (Lawrence Velázquez)]

We use our own Tcl now, so I don’t think this is relevant anymore.