== Removed features ==

This is a record of notable pieces of code that have been remove from MacPorts over the years due to disuse. It exists for historical interest and just in case bringing any of them back becomes desirable.

=== rpm and deb packages ===
r123004
 This leaves pkg and mpkg packages. As the pkg and mpkg package formats are proprietary, and the rpm and deb packages are free and open, this might be a candidate for one of those cases mentioned above where bringing them back could be desirable, although it would require someone to put forth the extra maintenance effort required...

=== `rpm-vercomp` function ===
r123005
 As the `vercmp` function seems to be a 1-for-1 replacement for it, this one should not be too big of a deal.

=== Building against a custom installation of Tcl ===
r117621, r117623
 This was because MacPorts now installs its own copy of Tcl instead. MacPorts now controls its Tcl installation, as well as all the other Tcl packages that it needs. Specifically, this involved removing the following configure flags:
    - `--with-tcl`
    - `--with-tclinclude`
    - `--with-tclpackage`
    - `--with-tcl-sqlite3=DIR`
    - `--with-included-tclthread`
 
=== Remote indices ===
r109659
 - Remote SQL index via mports:// source type
 - Remote PortIndex fetched via http or ftp
 - Generation of port archives containing only Portfile and files/ dir for use with remote index

=== xpkg archive type ===
r105002

=== submit target ===
r103400
 - generation of 'portpkg' containing Portfile, files/ and metadata
 - 'submit' target that uploads portpkg to a server, allowing users to submit new ports
 - associated server code

=== flat registry support ===
r79070, r79444, r106615
 The flat registry code itself was not removed in these commits since it was still needed to convert existing flat registries to sqlite, but all the other code that enabled use of the flat registry was removed.

=== direct mode ===
r77511
 Option to install files directly into their final location without having a port image. Deactivation of ports without uninstalling was thus not possible in this mode. The commit contains a lot more changes than just removing this feature since its primary purpose was to switch to using archives for port images.