meld @3.18.1: any port command results in error " Error: Unable to open port: unknown option setup_args"

[wilya7]

While doing a cleaning up after an update

sudo port -d -v -f clean --all all

I stumbled to the error described in the subject of this report while processing meld. Subsequently I saw that any port command directed to meld package ends up with the same Error: Unable to open port: unknown option setup_args. Here one example

sudo port -d -v -f clean --all meld

DEBUG: Copying /Users/cfusco/Library/Preferences/com.apple.dt.Xcode.plist to /opt/local/var/macports/home/Library/Preferences
DEBUG: Changing to port directory: /opt/local/var/macports/sources/rsync.macports.org/release/tarballs/ports/textproc/meld
DEBUG: OS darwin/18.7.0 (Mac OS X 10.14) arch i386
DEBUG: Re-registering default for build.cmd
DEBUG: Re-registering default for destroot.cmd
DEBUG: Re-registering default for destroot.destdir
DEBUG: Sourcing PortGroup python 1.0 from /opt/local/var/macports/sources/rsync.macports.org/release/tarballs/ports/_resources/port1.0/group/python-1.0.tcl
DEBUG: Sourcing PortGroup app 1.0 from /opt/local/var/macports/sources/rsync.macports.org/release/tarballs/ports/_resources/port1.0/group/app-1.0.tcl
DEBUG: Sourcing PortGroup active_variants 1.1 from /opt/local/var/macports/sources/rsync.macports.org/release/tarballs/ports/_resources/port1.0/group/active_variants-1.1.tcl
DEBUG: unknown option setup_args
    while executing
"error "unknown option $var""
    (procedure "python_get_defaults" line 30)
    invoked from within
"python_get_defaults setup_args"
    invoked from within
"destroot.cmd            "${python.bin} setup.py [python_get_defaults setup_args] --no-update-icon-cache --no-compile-schemas""
    (file "Portfile" line 36)
    invoked from within
"source Portfile"
    invoked from within
"$workername eval {source Portfile}"
    (procedure "mportopen" line 50)
    invoked from within
"mportopen $porturl [array get options] [array get requested_variations]"
Error: Unable to open port: unknown option setup_args

Is my port tree broken? I did do a port selfupdate, with no success.

This is my system:

sw_vers
ProductName:	Mac OS X
ProductVersion:	10.14.6
BuildVersion:	18G95

Sudo port version
Version: 2.5.4

I also downgraded Xcode 10.3 to Xcode 10.2.1, no change.

[kencu (Ken)]

That's interesting. What if you just:

cd /
sudo port -v install meld

and see what happens? I just installed it from source and it works fine here.

[jmroot (Joshua Root)]

It's because python_get_defaults is not a public interface; meld used it, it changed and so meld broke.

[jmroot (Joshua Root)]

In 0a257ef797aada4a21d36e76a537f30e3fed2b70/macports-ports (master):

meld: don't use python_get_defaults

It's an implementation detail, not a public interface. Also remove
incorrect use of python.versions - as per the docs, it's only used for
modules where you want to declare a subport per version. Apps only set
python.default_version.

Fixes: #59043

[elelay (Eric Le Lay)]

OK, thanks Joshua for the quick fix!