jekyll @0.30a_4: Error: Invalid import of Location, compiled with -unsafe-string

[ippoliti (Emiliano Ippoliti)]

After updating all the outdated ports, I installed jekyll on my machine equipped with MacOS 10.13.6 (Xcode 10.1 (10B61)). No installation problems at that time but when I tried to run jekyll I got the error message:

the file '/opt/local/bin/jekyll' has not the right magic number: expected Caml1999X029, got Caml1999X025

like if I got a binary of the port built for an older version of ocaml. Then, I tried to rebuild the port and I got the following error message:

> sudo port -ns upgrade --force jekyll
--->  Computing dependencies for jekyll
--->  Fetching distfiles for jekyll
--->  Attempting to fetch jekyll-0.30a-src.tar.gz from https://distfiles.macports.org/jekyll
--->  Verifying checksums for jekyll
--->  Extracting jekyll
--->  Configuring jekyll
--->  Building jekyll
Error: Failed to build jekyll: command execution failed
Error: See /opt/local/var/macports/logs/_opt_local_var_macports_sources_rsync.macports.org_macports_release_tarballs_ports_lang_jekyll/jekyll/main.log for details.
Error: Follow https://guide.macports.org/#project.tickets to report a bug.

In attachment also the main.log

[ippoliti (Emiliano Ippoliti)]

Log file for the error in the rebuilding of the jekyll port

[ryandesign (Ryan Carsten Schmidt)]

Ok so the error in the log is:

:info:build File "prettyutil.mli", line 1:
:info:build Error: Invalid import of Location, compiled with -unsafe-string.
:info:build        This compiler has been configured in strict safe-string mode (-force-safe-string)

I do recall seeing that in other ports as well.

Requiring safe strings is the default in ocaml 4.06 and later.

I don't know ocaml and don't know what's needed to fix this project to use safe strings. Upstream appears to be dead with the last sign of life in 2006. Perry, since you maintain ocaml, maybe you know? Or maybe this software is so obsolete as to no longer be needed anymore? Emiliano, are you sure you need it?

[pmetzger (Perry E. Metzger)]

OCaml stopped allowing mutability in strings about a decade ago; for a while you could use an option to make it use mutable strings (i.e. -unsafe-string.) Porting software to use immutable strings is usually pretty quick, but it's also the case that any project that has failed to do it in this long is almost certainly dead as a doornail.

[ryandesign (Ryan Carsten Schmidt)]

Before we invest time in fixing this dead software, let's make sure it's really needed. Emiliano, do you really want this jekyll port (which installs the software described at ​http://jekyllc.sourceforge.net) or were you actually looking for the software described at ​https://jekyllrb.com (for which we don't have a port yet)?

[ippoliti (Emiliano Ippoliti)]

Really, I need the software at ​https://jekyllrb.com and I did not notice that the jekyll available on Macports was a different (and very old) one. Thank you Ryan for point this out and sorry to have bothered you with something useless. I hope you will port the recent Jekyll code on Macports in future.

[pmetzger (Perry E. Metzger)]

So let's remove the existing Jekyll port (which is quite thoroughly dead), and please file a bug report requesting that Jekyll-the-static-site-generator be packaged and put into MacPorts.

[ryandesign (Ryan Carsten Schmidt)]

In e74b4ce6f504a2380c9a6940b65e201b2c62ad76/macports-ports (master):

jekyll: Remove

Remove jekyll because it does not build, hasn't had upstream updates in
fifteen years, and there is another much more popular software project
of the same name that we would like to make available instead.

Closes: #62695
See: #62697