sudo port -d upgrade outdated hangs

[micrology]

Running Mac Ports on El Capitan (OS darwin/14.5.0 (Mac OS X 10.10)) I did a mac port selfupdate, and it updated to 2.4.1 to 2.4.2. Then I did a `sudo port upgrade outdated, and it hangs with no output. I repeated the upgrade with the -d flag and got the following trace.

sudo port -d upgrade outdated
Password:
DEBUG: Copying /Users/scs1ng/Library/Preferences/com.apple.dt.Xcode.plist to /opt/local/var/macports/home/Library/Preferences
DEBUG: epoch: in tree: 0 installed: 0
DEBUG: apache2 2.4.28_2 exists in the ports tree
DEBUG: apache2 2.2.34_0 +preforkmpm is the latest installed
DEBUG: apache2 2.2.34_0 +preforkmpm is active
DEBUG: Merging existing variants '+preforkmpm' into variants
DEBUG: new fully merged portvariants: preforkmpm +
DEBUG: Changing to port directory: /opt/local/var/macports/sources/rsync.macports.org/release/tarballs/ports/www/apache2
DEBUG: OS darwin/14.5.0 (Mac OS X 10.10) arch i386
DEBUG: Sourcing PortGroup apache2 1.0 from /opt/local/var/macports/sources/rsync.macports.org/release/tarballs/ports/_resources/port1.0/group/apache2-1.0.tcl
DEBUG: adding the default universal variant
DEBUG: Reading variant descriptions from /opt/local/var/macports/sources/rsync.macports.org/release/tarballs/ports/_resources/port1.0/variant_descriptions.conf
DEBUG: Executing variant preforkmpm provides preforkmpm
DEBUG: Running callback portconfigure::add_automatic_compiler_dependencies

and it then hung (I was able to interrupt with a CTL-C).

Nothing has changed about the system from the previous time I did a selfupdate/upgrade outdated about 2 weeks ago. So it seems at first sight as though the problem arises from the new, 2.4.2, version of the base.

[ryandesign (Ryan Carsten Schmidt)]

MacPorts 2.4.2 contains minimal changes from 2.4.1 and can't really be causing such a problem. We're of course running 2.4.2 on our build servers where we don't see such a problem there.

I notice the log mentions apache2. A significant update was recently committed to apache2 which updated it to version 2.4.x and changed its layout, which required all ports using apache2 to be modified and rebuilt. This upgrade should go smoothly; not sure why you're having difficulties. When you say it hangs, how long did you wait? Not that it should take very long when working correctly. Do you get the same hang if you try upgrading apache2 specifically? (sudo port upgrade apache2) What about upgrading other individual specific ports shown in port outdated?

[micrology]

Replying to ryandesign:

MacPorts 2.4.2 contains minimal changes from 2.4.1 and can't really be causing such a problem. We're of course running 2.4.2 on our build servers where we don't see such a problem there.

I notice the log mentions apache2. A significant update was recently committed to apache2 which updated it to version 2.4.x and changed its layout, which required all ports using apache2 to be modified and rebuilt. This upgrade should go smoothly; not sure why you're having difficulties. When you say it hangs, how long did you wait? Not that it should take very long when working correctly. Do you get the same hang if you try upgrading apache2 specifically? (sudo port upgrade apache2) What about upgrading other individual specific ports shown in port outdated?

Thanks for the comments.

Specifically, I waited several hours for the hang to clear.

When I try to upgrade just apache2, I get the same hang (and the same Debug trace).

I then tried to upgrade another port shown as needing an upgrade – and again got the same hang. Debug output follows:

sudo port -d upgrade curl
DEBUG: Copying /Users/scs1ng/Library/Preferences/com.apple.dt.Xcode.plist to /opt/local/var/macports/home/Library/Preferences
DEBUG: epoch: in tree: 0 installed: 0
DEBUG: curl 7.56.0_0 exists in the ports tree
DEBUG: curl 7.55.1_0 +ssl is the latest installed
DEBUG: curl 7.55.1_0 +ssl is active
DEBUG: Merging existing variants '+ssl' into variants
DEBUG: new fully merged portvariants: ssl +
DEBUG: Changing to port directory: /opt/local/var/macports/sources/rsync.macports.org/release/tarballs/ports/net/curl
DEBUG: OS darwin/14.5.0 (Mac OS X 10.10) arch i386
DEBUG: Reading variant descriptions from /opt/local/var/macports/sources/rsync.macports.org/release/tarballs/ports/_resources/port1.0/variant_descriptions.conf
DEBUG: Sourcing PortGroup muniversal 1.0 from /opt/local/var/macports/sources/rsync.macports.org/release/tarballs/ports/_resources/port1.0/group/muniversal-1.0.tcl
DEBUG: universal variant already exists, so not adding the default one
DEBUG: Executing variant ssl provides ssl
DEBUG: Running callback portconfigure::add_automatic_compiler_dependencies

Note that it ends/hangs at the same point as with apache2.

[raimue (Rainer Müller)]

We had similar reports like this for old macOS versions including 10.10 Yosemite, for example: #45609 or #49647. It appears to be a bug in the Xcode toolchain, but we were never able to pinpoint the problem. As a first try, reboot your system.

[micrology]

I should have thought of that! Rebooting the system cured the problem. No idea why though. Thanks for the hint!