I'm trying to clarify conceptually what MacPorts is and how it works in the new guide. In the old guide the term "initialization phase" is used for what I think we may commonly refer to this as the "global section" of a portfile. http://geeklair.net/macports_guide/ch04.html#id927488 I don't like the term "initialization phase" because it seems counterintuitive for many keywords such as "maintainer", "description", etc. I prefer to call those "global" keywords, thereby disguishing between the global port/Portfile stuff and port/Portfile installation phases. Seen that way the global part is not termed an installation phase at all and I like the separation conceptually. I think this is more clear and more or less clearly explains the murky relationship between a port and a Portfile. To see how I have explained it, see the brief intro in section "Portfile Introduction" in 4.1 of the new guide. http://geeklair.net/macports_guide/ Does anyone see any problem with this characterization? Mark