MacPorts


Screenshot of the port command running in Terminal
Initial release 2002; 9 years ago (2002)
Stable release 2.0.3  (September 6, 2011; 5 months ago (2011-09-06)) [±]
Development status Active
Written in Tcl and C
Operating system Mac OS X, Darwin
Type Package Management
License BSD license
Website www.macports.org

MacPorts, formerly called DarwinPorts,[1] is a package management system that simplifies the installation of software on the Mac OS X and Darwin operating systems. It is a free/open source software project to simplify installation of other free/open source software. Similar in aim and function to Fink and the BSDs' ports collections, DarwinPorts was started in 2002 as part of the OpenDarwin project, with the involvement of a number of Apple Inc. employees including Landon Fuller, Kevin Van Vechten, and Jordan Hubbard.

It allows the installation of a number of packages by entering the command sudo port install packagename in the Terminal, which will then download, compile and install the requested software, while also installing any required dependencies automatically. Installed packages can be updated with the command sudo port selfupdate.[2]

On April 28, 2005, the project released version 1.0 of their software.[3] In December 2005, the project reached a milestone, passing 3000 ports.[4] In August 2010, MacPorts version 1.9.1 surpassed 7000 ports. As of August 2011 MacPorts version 2.0.1 has over 8300 ports.

MacPorts is currently hosted on Mac OS Forge, an open source hosting service created and maintained by Apple Inc. for third-party projects not supported by Apple.[5] Best-effort support can be sourced from the community, as for any open source project.[6]

MacPorts supports compiling "universal" binaries for both PowerPC and Intel-based versions of MacOS, but migrating from a PowerPC installation of MacPorts to a version on an Intel Mac may require re-compiling all installed ports.[7]

The official MacPorts GUI application is called Pallet and began as a Google Summer of Code project in 2009.[8] Another MacPorts GUI application is Porticus which, as of late 2011, does not support Mac OS X Lion.[9]

See also

References

  1. ^ "DarwinPorts project announces New Hosting and New Name". darwinports.opendarwin.org (archived). August 7, 2006. http://www.macports.org/?p=46. Retrieved 2007-03-05. 
  2. ^ "MacPorts". http://www.macports.org/. January 5, 2011. http://www.macports.org/install.php#selfupdate. Retrieved 2010-10-15. 
  3. ^ Markus Weissmann (April 28, 2005). "DarwinPorts v1.0". darwinports.opendarwin.org (archived). Archived from the original on 2006-06-29. http://web.archive.org/web/20060629031249/http://darwinports.opendarwin.org/archives.php?id=22. Retrieved 2007-03-05. 
  4. ^ "3000 ports landmark". darwinports.opendarwin.org (archived). December 17, 2005. Archived from the original on 2006-06-29. http://web.archive.org/web/20060629031529/http://darwinports.opendarwin.org/archives.php?id=33. Retrieved 2007-03-05. 
  5. ^ http://www.macosforge.org/contact/
  6. ^ http://www.macports.org/contact.php
  7. ^ http://trac.macports.org/wiki/FAQ#migration
  8. ^ https://trac.macports.org/wiki/MacPortsGUI
  9. ^ http://porticus.alittledrop.com/

External links